By Jaime Spencer
A former Arsenal scout has revealed he is interested in bringing Jude Bellingham to the Gunners before the current England superstar joins current club Borussia Dortmund.
Bellingham is still only 19, but has already played more than 150 first-team games in his career and most recently played for England at the 2022 World Cup.
Liverpool, Real Madrid and Man City await Jude Bellingham’s decision
When will Jude Bellingham make a decision about his future?
Liverpool, Manchester City and Real Madrid have all followed the midfielder closely, with Dortmund expected to value him at €150m (£134m) when it finally comes time to sell him. Manchester United were also very enthusiastic in 2020, but Bellingham went to Dortmund instead.
Dortmund now remain keen to convince him to stay for another year until 2024. While they won’t object to him should he decide to move forward, no release clause in his contract means they are entitled to demand a high fee reflecting the its full market value.
But things could have already been so different had Arsenal had their way before now.
Former Gunners scout Francis Cagigao has spoken of being fond of Bellingham when the teenage prodigy was still at boyhood club Birmingham. The problem for Arsenal, even then, was already the price: the possible transfer of Dortmund came to 25 million pounds plus add-ons.
“I first saw him when he was 16,” Cagigao said AS.
“I wanted to sign him for Arsenal, but it was already too expensive.
“He’s very good. What is clear is that if a club paid that amount [€120m] for Enzo [Fernandez]someone will also pay for Bellingham”.
In this edition of The Chronicles of a Gooner, part of the 90 Minutes Podcast Network, Harry Simeou look back at Everton 1-0 Arsenal to identify exactly what went wrong and discuss Spurs’ result against Manchester City! If you can’t see this embed, click Here to listen to the podcast!
This article was originally posted on 90min.com as How Arsenal lost Jude Bellingham in 2020.
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