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In an era of specialists, Jude Bellingham does it all. It is for that reason above any else that a cavalcade of Europe’s top clubs are falling over themselves in the pursuit of his signature this summer.
Liverpool and Real Madrid are at the front of the queue for the England international but the simple reality is almost any team that could afford Bellingham would move heaven and earth if they thought he could be convinced to depart Borussia Dortmund for them. Why? Because Bellingham would be a comfortable fit into any elite level midfield, his underlying metrics suggesting he could excel in just about any role his head coach asked of him, something he is already doing on a regular basis in the Bundesliga. He is just 19 years of age.
In some of the early months of the season, Bellingham tended to occupy one of the deeper midfield positions in Edin Terzic’s side, paired with a more natural ball winner such as Emre Can or Salih Ozcan. From there, it would be up to the Birmingham City academy graduate to drive Dortmund up the pitch, whether through his carrying or his passing. In both facet he excels, according to fbref he ranks in the 91st percentile of midfielders in Europe’s top five leagues for progressive carries and passes. By his standard the 91st percentile is frankly bog standard, to look at his data set is to see a sea of green, bar charts stretching to the outer limits of the graph, dynamic radars overflowing with quality.
Crucially, Bellingham makes an impact on the stat that counts most of all. To go along with his six assists, the 10 goals he has provided make him Borussia Dortmund’s top scorer in all competitions. In part the reason for his best scoring season yet in Germany is that Bellingham has been moved further upfield by Terzic as the season has progressed, but one suspects he could weigh in with plenty of goals as a six, eight or 10. One of his most obvious skills is his ability to draw an opponent, beat them with the dribble and pass and then to keep on going into the penalty area, as he did for this equalizing goal against Sevilla in October.
Wyscout/Arena 2
If one wanted to make the case for Bellingham having already established an aura in his teens, the petrified gaze of three Sevilla defenders would be invaluable evidence. Had they been watching their pre-match scouting reports they would have known to watch out for his late darts into the box. That does not mean they can stop them.
Should Dortmund lose the ball in the attacking third then they can rest assured that Bellingham, who has made more tackles in the attacking third than any other Bundesliga player, will get it back for them. Here is a player who not only weighs in with double figures in goals but also ranks in Germany’s top five in terms of tackles and interceptions. Whatever a coach wants, Bellingham delivers and does so in exemplary fashion.
When Pep Guardiola came to praise Bellingham before Dortmund’s Champions League games with Manchester City earlier this season it was not the positional intelligence he focused on, the goal output or the tackles. “The quality, everybody knows it,” said Guardiola. “The whole package is really good. He was 17 when he arrived [at Dortmund from Birmingham City] but it was not just about his quality, [it was] how he was leading, his kicking, going to the referee.
“This guy was something special in terms of his mentality. Now he is 19 and he is already one of the captains.” The teenager from Stourbridge has already led out one of Germany’s biggest teams, the European champions of 1997, on four occasions. If he were to stay on that number would surely grow significantly and Dortmund are more than prepared to delay their payday to spend more time with Bellingham.
“With all the respect for Jude and his performance, we have been answering this question since he joined,” Terzic said ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League round of 16 second leg against Chelsea. “He chose to join us because he knows this can be the perfect step for him and I think we’ve proven it both ways. He’s helping us a lot but I also think that we as a club on that stage are helping him and his career as well.
“We’re really happy and delighted that he is part of our team, he’s one of our leaders at the age of 19, he stepped through to the English national team as a player of BVB and this is something we’re really happy with.” And yet Dortmund know that there is an inevitability about this summer. Bellingham arrived in North-Rhine Westphalia as one of world football’s brightest young prospects. His current club have helped to mould him into one of the game’s best players in his position, the track record of Erling Haaland, Ilkay Gundogan and Jadon Sancho suggests that this is the moment those players move on for a sizeable prices. However much that ends up being there will be several prepared to pay the price. No wonder. Even the loftiest of fees could be a steal for a 19 year old who doesn’t even need to grow all that much to be a superstar.
How to watch and odds
- Date: Tuesday, Mar. 7 | Time: 3 p.m. ET
- Location: Stamford Bridge — London, UK
- TV and live stream: CBS and Paramount+
- Odds: Chelsea -118; Draw +260; BVB +310 (via Caesars Sportsbook
Featured Game | Chelsea vs. Borussia Dortmund
Tuesday’s broadcast schedule
(All times U.S./Eastern)
- UEFA Champions League Today, 2 p.m., CBS and Paramount+
- Chelsea vs. Borussia Dortmund, 3 p.m., CBS and Paramount+
- Benfica vs. Club Brugge 3 p.m., Paramount+
- UEFA Champions League Post-Match Show, 5 p.m., CBS Sports Network and Paramount+
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Wednesday’s broadcast schedule
(All times U.S./Eastern)
Coverage starts each day at 2 pm. with Champions League Today on CBS and Paramount+. Paramount+ will offer a multicast feature allowing subscribers to watch two matches simultaneously in a split-screen view. You can try one month free by using the code: ADVANCE.
