Rio Ferdinand has played down claims linking Borussia Dortmund star Jude Bellingham with a move to Manchester United.
The Red Devils were known to be long-term admirers of the English star, who had tried to join the Old Trafford outfit during his time at Birmingham City. However, even after getting a glimpse of the training base, the midfielder opted to join the German side in 2020.
Since then, the 19-year-old has been a top-notch player for both, club and country. At a such young age, he has already been handed the captain’s armband at Dortmund.
This season, Bellingham is picking up form at the right time as England prepares itself for the World Cup campaign. The midfielder has already scored a lot of goals for Dortmund in the Bundesliga this season and now he has even scored a goal for the three lions in their opening match against Iran.
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It’s only a matter of time until the top teams enter a hot race for his signature. He is expected to depart the club this summer with clubs like Real Madrid, Manchester City, United and Liverpool heavily monitoring the player.
However, former United centre-back Rio Ferdinand believes that Bellingham will ignore a move to United as he will have better options at his disposal.
While speaking on his YouTube channel, Vibe With Five, he said:
“Put yourself in Jude Bellingham’s shoes now… [Manchester] City are going to be in for him, Real Madrid probably is in for him, they are all going to be, Barca, Bayern will be in for him.”
“There’s too much work to be done at United, its whether he thinks ‘you know what I can be the catalyst to pull this club back to where it should be.
“That’s the only way he goes if he says that in his own mind, ‘I can be that guy, if he thinks he can be that guy then Man United’s the club for him, but I don’t see him taking that decision.”
Ferdinand’s words may have the ugly truth residing within them but United will still try to pursue a midfielder even if it’s not Bellingham.
Dortmund are expected to ask a huge fee of around £150 million for their star asset. It would be far better for United to look for other options in the market rather than giving away their time and energy in luring a single player. The Red Devils are expected to make a few signings this January with Cody Gakpo placed on the top of the wish list.
Erik ten Hag will try to convince the board to sign a new right-back, an optional goalkeeper and a new attacker in the upcoming transfer window.
