Jude Bellingham rejecting massive Man Utd offer sends message to Liverpool and Man City | Football | Sport

Jude Bellingham has the luxury of being able to decide on his next club if and when he leaves Borussia Dortmund ahead of his expected summer departure, but Liverpool and Manchester City will have to be wary of disappointment. Only three years ago, it was Manchester United who were chasing the England starlet, only to be snubbed in favour of a move to Germany despite tabling a huge contract offer.

The 19-year-old has become one of the world’s most sought-after talents after developing into a world-class midfielder with Dortmund, having joined the Bundesliga outfit in January 2020 for £25m from Birmingham City. He is a regular starter for England and impressed alongside Declan Rice in their midfield partnership at the World Cup in Qatar.

It is widely known that Bellingham is keen to move to a bigger club with Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea, PSG and Real Madrid all desperate to claim his signature on the dotted line. Bellingham will no doubt receive a huge pay rise in the process if he pens a long-term deal, with some reports of a £300,000-a-week contract offer.

But the teenager has already shown that he is not motivated by money and that the sporting project will be key to deciding his future – as he did when turning down United three years ago. Having watched Bellingham ease into senior football in the Championship when he was just 16 years of age, United, along with Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea, showed strong interest in taking him to the top-flight. 

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The club had a history of signing up English talent such as Luke Shaw and Wayne Rooney and pulled out all the stops to lure the then 17-year-old, with their salary offer “double” that of their competitors.

That’s according to former Birmingham City chief Xuandong Ren, who claims United even arranged for Bellingham to meet with managerial legend Sir Alex Ferguson, former United hero Eric Cantona and their manager at the time Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to woo him over a move to Old Trafford.

“Ed Woodward (former United managing director) was the one who was most insistent,” he told Mundo Deportivo. “We sat down and talked about how we could convince Bellingham. But Jude didn’t make any decisions based on money. Manchester United offered twice as much as the rest of the clubs, they even brought him together with Ferguson, Cantona and Solskjaer to convince him.

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“They were offering much more salary compared to the rest. Maybe double. He was going to be guaranteed millions in the bank and he didn’t take it. That’s not normal for a player at all.

“I could only act as Birmingham’s CEO. I could say to him Jude, ‘Manchester United are offering you three times what we are offering, you have to go’.

“And it was a difficult position, because I wanted to respect his decision. At the time he could have gone for free, and we wouldn’t see any money. And our promise was that we would let them make the decision because of the loyalty they showed us.”

Eventually, Bellingham decided to sign for Dortmund after watching Jadon Sancho make a similar move in 2017 and flourish in the Bundesliga.

And perhaps the midfield star may have some hesitation about following him back to Manchester amid Sancho’s ongoing struggles on and off the pitch, which could work in Liverpool’s favour if they are willing to spend in excess of £130m.