Dortmund CEO is wary of Bellingham’s eventual departure

Having recently been included in Gareth Southgate’s 26-man squad for the World Cup as well as the excellent form he has been on, Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham has attracted many European giants in what will eventually be a bidding war for the midfielder’s signature.

This has prompted Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke to come out and speak on the matter, admitting that his club simply cannot "afford to fight financially" with teams that are vying to sign Bellingham.

, who signed for £25million from Birmingham City back in 2020, has registered 12 direct goal involvements this season, which has led many to believe that he’ll be a starter for England in the World Cup.

Although the interest in the midfielder was always there, these numbers has only intensified it and now clubs like

, Real Madrid and Manchester City will be looking to sign the midfielder in the summer with Dortmund wanting a reported fee of around €100m for the midfielder.

are no stranger to a situation like this as they often turn young talents into highly profitable assets like in the case of Erling Haaland and Jadon Sancho recently. Dortmund CEO Watzke recently spoke to the Bild about the situation and his plans for Bellingham’s future.

"We will hold talks now, as soon as [the World Cup in] Qatar is over. Then we'll have a fundamental talk about what he would like.

"He just needs to tell us if he'd like to stay or if he'd like to go. In both cases we'll talk about it very pleasantly and reasonably together.

"In general we can imagine that he'd stay with us, but we can't behave as if this topic wasn't on the table.

"If he says 'I'd like to do something else,' then the really big [clubs] in Europe will be there and we can't afford to fight financially."

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