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Gary Neville has praised Jude Bellingham’s decision to reject Manchester United’s offer in favor of Borussia Dortmund for 2020.
Ole Gunnar Solsjkaer was thought to be in love with Bellingham (then plying his trade at youth club Birmingham City) and wanted to bring him to Old Trafford.
As such, the club undertook an elaborate courting process, which even involved Sir Alex Ferguson personally meeting Bellingham on his tour of the Carrington training complex. In the end, he was unsuccessful, despite United reaching an agreement with Birmingham.
Bellingham may have looked at United’s midfield at the time, which included both Paul Pogba and Bruno Fernandes, and believed that his opportunities to play as a more advanced midfielder would be limited. Instead, he chose Dortmund, a club famous for helping cultivate young talent, in a move worth around €30 million.
Very quickly it turned out to be the right decision.
The English midfielder shone at Signal Iduna Park, quickly establishing himself as one of the Bundesliga’s top players and one of the best prospects in all of Europe.
A consistent series of impressive performances in the heart of Dortmund’s midfield eventually led to a successful transfer to Real Madrid last summer. Madrid agreed to pay €110 million for the 20-year-old, a price that seemed expensive at first glance, but quickly turned out to be a real bargain given Bellingham’s performances in the Spanish capital.
Seventeen goals and six assists in just twenty-four games; the heartbeat of Madrid’s midfield and attack; leader of La Liga and its Champions League group; a leader in a Champions League dressing room at the tender age of twenty; murmurs of a potential Ballon d’Or.
Bellingham has been a revelation at the Bernabéu this season. However, it is a promotion to football’s upper echelon that may never have happened had Bellingham not chosen Dortmund over United. Or at least that’s what Neville believes.
“You think about Jude Bellingham, he walks into the boardroom here, Man United agreed a fee with Birmingham and also Dortmund and he can choose between them and somehow, congratulations, he chose Dortmund and now he is one of the best players in the team. world and greatest English talents.
“What would have happened if I had come here? “I don’t know, maybe it would be a success, but I’m not so sure because of the culture,” Neville said on Sky Sports.
The expert even went so far as to reveal the recommendation he used to give to players to join United as “pretty poor advice.”
Fellow pundit and former teammate Roy Keane agreed with this idea. “I have said for years that if you are a player and you have the opportunity to sign for Man United, do it. My opinion has changed in recent years,” Keane revealed.
