Jude Bellingham’s goalscoring ability adds to star teenager’s soaring value

Two giant black and yellow flags flap in the wind on the main walkway into the city centre. About 50 yards to the right stands one of three Dortmund club shops, which sell all sorts of merchandise from toasters to thermometers, and the local press has extensive coverage of the Bundesliga club, who will join Manchester City in the Champions League knockout stages if they win tonight (Tuesday).

Last season, the club shop was full of Erling Haaland gear, but now another player is the most popular youngster in these parts – England’s Jude Bellingham.

Bellingham impressed in his first two seasons at Dortmund, but now his popularity has reached new heights among the fanbase, the coaching staff and media after adding another string to his bow – goals.

Seventeen matches into the campaign, the 19-year-old has scored eight times, which is two more than he managed in the whole of last season. “Suddenly he’s a goalscorer: Bellingham is more valuable than ever for Dortmund,” read a headline in Ruhr Nachrichten, the Dortmund daily newspaper, after Bellingham scored twice in Saturday’s 5-0 win over Stuttgart.

Bellingham was previously viewed as a defensive midfielder, but this season Edin Terzic, the Dortmund head coach, has encouraged the teenager to play further up the pitch.

Emre Can sits in front of the back four, allowing Bellingham and Salih Ozcan or Julian Brandt to venture further forward. Bellingham operates on the right side of midfield but often drifts infield to occupy the space usually reserved for the No 10. “This season he has a slightly different role within the team,” Terzic said.

“He’s more attacking. He’s entering the opposition box many times. He has already scored eight goals for us this season. This is the next step that we talked about with him before the season started and we’re very happy that he is performing this way, but we know his development is not finished yet.”

Terzic regards Bellingham as a leader too. That is why he has promoted him to third captain, behind Marco Reus and Mats Hummels.

It is a role that Bellingham has taken seriously. “The biggest part of leadership is that you lead by example with your performance first and foremost,” Bellingham said.

Terzic, who was assistant manager of West Ham United under Slaven Bilic, thinks Bellingham’s progression can only be a good thing for England.

“He’s the oldest 19-year-old I’ve ever seen,” Terzic said. “He’s great on and off the pitch. Jude will have a big impact with us and England in the next few years. I have been lucky enough to work with Declan Rice at West Ham too. Both of them are really talented and they are going to dominate English football in terms of the midfield positions for the next decade.”

Bellingham is too much of a professional to allow talk about his future to permeate his head, but that will not stop speculation that his third season at Dortmund could be his last.

City want to sign a midfielder next summer and Bellingham is one of the names on their shortlist, but others are circling too, such as Real Madrid, who hope that the good relationship between president Florentino Perez and Dortmund chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke can work in their favour.

Real have identified Bellingham as a potential replacement for 37-year-old Luka Modric, who is out of contract in the summer. Liverpool are also admirers although it appears unlikely that they would be willing to pay Dortmund’s asking price, which is set to be more than pounds 100 million.

Chelsea and Manchester United, who tried to sign Bellingham from Birmingham City in 2020, are also interested in the midfielder, who has 2 and a half years left on his contract. Unlike Haaland, it seems that Bellingham does not have a release clause in his contract. “I’m still 19, [and] I’ve won maybe one trophy [the DFB-Pokal] in my career, and it’s not enough,” Bellingham said.

Guardiola is certainly a fan.

“He’s a really good player,” the Catalan said. “I said it when he was 17 years old. It wasn’t just the quality, it was about what he was the shouting, the leading, the kicking, and him going to the referee. I thought this guy was something special in terms of the mentality.

“Now, at 19 he is already one the captains of the team. Maybe if he had gone to City, United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea or Tottenham he would not get the minutes that he has had at Dortmund.”

– The Times

Originally published as Jude Bellingham’s goalscoring ability adds to star teenager’s soaring value