Its interesting that its always said that Bellingham has good people advising him (his family), and they have planned his progress very well. If that were true why did they not make sure to put a release clause in a contract, the way Haaland did, to make sure that Bellingham’s path cannot be stifled? Right now, whatever we say, the power rests with Dortmund on which offer they accept, and even whether they accept an offer from anyone or not (as it did last year too). Also it has severely limited the kind of clubs that Bellingham can go to at this point and time. All in all, his own destiny is definitely not fully in his hands.
The positive side here is that Dortmund are not the sort of club to unreasonably hold someone hostage (I think) the way Spurs held on to Kane. But it is no given that we have money in the suitcase waiting for when Dortmund is willing to accept offers.
I think for this deal to get over the line smoothly, two things need to happen. One, Bellingham makes it clear to BvB that he’ll go to us and only us, and that puts an end to a bidding war. Two, BvB are willing to accept a structured deal from us like we gave for Nunez. Something like 80m flat + 20m after x appearances + 20m if we win a major trophy etc.
Also it might depend quite a bit on who would be our next owners or investors. And just to throw an additional ‘what if’, what if the matter of Ward leaving is because he has failed to deliver on certain key targets, eg. Tchouameni first and now Bellingham? What if Klopp got furious because our main targets in the key area of the pitch are now out of our reach? Too many possibilities me thinks. I’ll believe its happening when I see the lean.
I think they were comfortable having him tied to a deal that runs him all the way up to the grand old age of 22 - and the clubs he is limited to picking between are the clubs he would have wanted to be picking between anyway. Madrid, PSG, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Man City, Man United and Liverpool are likely the only clubs to be anywhere near affording him and they’re also likely the only clubs he’d leave Dortmund for - so he isn’t really that limited.
Also, I think the contract situation is because the family want to leave good relations with these clubs. He signed a new deal at Birmingham specifically so that Dortmund had to pay a higher fee to get him. They probably want whoever buys him to pay through the nose because… his brother Jobe has started making in roads into the Birmingham team now and is apparently very impressive. I’d be pretty surprised if he doesn’t follow Jude’s path out to Dortmund in the next year or two.
So you think he’s fine with staying at Dortmund for 3 more years?
And the second paragraph serves the interest of the clubs, not the player. It feels more like succumbing to better negotiators present at all the clubs rather than any praiseworthy planning.
No I don’t think he’d be OK with it (he may love it though I don’t know) but that’s my point - worst case scenario is that he would stay there two more years, as Dortmund are not going to let him walk for free so he would definitely be sold in 2024 at the latest. He knew though, when he signed the deal last year, that he’s never going to have to stay that long because he’s far too good.
Second paragraph depends on how you see the relationship with the club. If its a battle based on getting the absolute most money and power then yeah they probably didn’t get as much as they could. If you want a more friendly relationship then maybe you leave a release clause off the table since you know the only party it benefits is the player, and Bellingham doesn’t really need that reassurance since he knows his sale is forthcoming anyway. The way I see it his family/inner circle have made every effort to have a genial and strong a relationship as possible with the clubs they have been at.
Now whether you move to a club like Real Madrid and give them the same allowances, I’m not so sure. Dortmund have proven themselves to be a truthworthy club by keeping promises to many players over the past few years and generally being amicable. Aside from ourselves - and maybe that’s just red tinted glasses - the bigger clubs are all snake pits. I think at that point you try and rinse them for everything they are worth.
Maybe Bellingham didn’t have a release clause from Dortmund because they would not allow it? Arguably they allowed one for Haaland, reluctantly, but then put their foot down on Bellingham as allowing release clauses is not really the way they want to do business?
Bellingham saw Dortmund as his best option to grow his career and gain high level experience, and so decided to go anyway, even without a release clause, knowing that he would be under contract there until age 22.
Obviously since then Bellingham has become world class already, and the prices for top footballers have continued to go through the roof.
So here we are.
Maybe we will sign Bellingham, obviously for an eye watering sum, but then also take Moukoko on a free from Dortmund, so the finances will all of a sudden look a lot more reasonable?
Optional releases clauses, when bargained for by the player, typically have a lowering effect on the salary they get. Is it like a reverse amortization, where if the club think they lose control of how and when to sell the player they claw a bit of money back over the length of the contract by paying the player less. As long as Jude felt that the length of the contract allowed him to leave in a way that was aligned with his career goals there would be no reason to ask for such a clause.
Jude is 19. He is playing elite level football at an age where most kids haven’t made a senior appearance. He can sit this out if necessary.
If Dortmund slap such a fee on him that his preferred club is priced out, he can just refuse to go anywhere this summer and wait until next year (when I believe he has a year left on his deal)
In Jude’s case, having no release clause would benefit the buying clubs more. €100M is crazy money if this is his current valuation. This should drop as Jude’s contract starts to wind down and all the buyers know this. Age is also not a factor as Jude is still so young.
I believe all clubs, English or not, are willing to wait it out for the price to drop to something reasonable. After all, the only benefit of English clubs signing him by this summer is to retain his home-grown status. Dortmund can only play hardball for a while longer or risk losing him on a free transfer.
I expect the final selling price to be similar to Tchouameni, if not lower.
Honestly, I would lose most interest in football if Liverpool were to buy Jude at the touted price of €100M. It’s a world gone mad.
Not aware of previous conversation. There is a possibility of Bellingham joining for less than £100m but it will not be in this years January/Summer transfer window, that is for sure.
I admire Dortmund, their policy is good. They (like the RB teams) are estimated in their transfer dealings. Giving Haaland a low release fee to secure a transfer, like RB Salzburg is just economics but it obviously relies on him performing.
I personally believe we will sign Bellingham for £110m with incentives pushing it up to £140m. I like him, he is talented, comes across clever and respected (this is from my observation from Tv so take it as you please) but then has the physical attributes of being tall, athletic and skilful.
In my opinion the midfield department has over taken the CB role in terms of organisation. Yes, a leader at the back is needed but most of the guidance is from Midfield. Bellingham at the age of 19 portrays that. This is what pushes up his price and rightly so.
I do so for the added advantage that we would be locking down one key facet of the midfield area for the better part of two decades to come (hopefully).
Investments made with the future in mind don’t exactly have a price tag.
What do you think our fans will expect if we plonk over a hundred million pounds on this 19 year old? As great as our fan base is, we will be wanting him to be a 9/10 every single match, if he goes through a bad patch, he will be called out, blah blah. In FM, I would buy Bellingham with no hesitation. But in real life, as much as I can see he is and will be a great player but surely we don’t have to be fixated that he is the only player that can be great and we surely must pay well over the odds. If we do end up paying that, as a fan I will be happy of course but this will make the statement that Klopp make when we signed VVD about paying more than what wanted, that will sound like child’s play. He is great but not worth more than a hundred million and not in the category of must have.
We need to stop thinking about him in terms of age. He’s in his third season of the Bundesliga top tier, and was probably the standout England player in the world cup. The point is he’s 80 games into his top flight career, and seems to be pretty mature even if players like Hendo are sheltering him a little.
Does his performances right now warrant a £100m price tag? No. Is there a good chance he will get better? Probably.
Grealish is a piece of shit and does not mean Man Shitty was willing to pay 100mil for that, means we should, no matter what potential we see in a player like this. Its not that I am not willing to move with the times but its just puzzling that some cannot see beyond Bellingham.
Well it seems Bellingham is LFC’s top target. This is the JB thread. If there weren’t strong links to him, there wouldn’t be a thread and we’d be in the who would you buy? thread talking about him.
End of the day even if us fans on TAN can’t see past him it makes no difference to what will happen in real life.