Sancho makes Jude Bellingham claim as Liverpool transfer talk surfaces
Incoming Manchester United man Jadon Sancho reckons Jude Bellingham is destined to reach the very top of world football, amid fresh reports linking the midfielder with a move to Liverpool.
With the Reds in the hunt for a new a midfielder to plug the gap left by Georginio Wijnaldum, Bellingham is the latest name to be linked. The teenage midfielder is a popular figure among Liverpool fans for making very clear his admiration for Steven Gerrard.
The 18-year-old England man claimed Gerrard was the player past or present that he’d most like to swap shirts with. More recently, Bellingham recently shared a compilation of Gerrard’s best moments in a Liverpool shirt on Twitter.
And having been linked with the Reds prior to his move from Birmingham to Borussia Dortmund, it’s no wonder to see his name pop up again.
Sancho is soon-to-make-official a £73m move to Manchester United. As a result, it seems highly unlikely Dortmund would sell Bellingham this summer.
In fact, they are reportedly looking to extend his stay at the Westfalenstadion with a bumper new deal.
Sancho, however, is convinced that his teammate is heading to the very top.
“The sky’s the limit for the guy,” Sancho told England’s official YouTube channel.
“He is a great footballer, he is mature for his age, which is very surprising. I think when I was 18, I was not that mature at all!”
“Being at a major tournament for England, especially, is a very big thing. As you can see, he’s coming on and doing his role for the team.
“He deserves it. As I said before, the sky’s the limit for him and if he keeps on doing well then he can reach the top of his ability. I hope that happens.”
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Bellingham further endeared himself to Liverpool fans too on Saturday. That’s after the substitute raced over to celebrate with Jordan Henderson after he finally broke his England duck against Ukraine.
And Three Lions coach Gareth Saouthgate admitted he was thrilled by that reaction.
“I loved some of the reaction on the bench when Hendo scored. You could see the younger players were totally delighted for him.
“There’s a lovely moment with Jude that shows you what Hendo brings to our environment that the players were so pleased for him. We all were.”
Bellingham rejected Liverpool, Man Utd
Liverpool are not the only admirers of Bellingham with Manchester United also tracking his progress.
They too, like Liverpool, were also strongly linked with the 18-year-old prior to his move to the Bundesliga.
Now a former player, working as an agent, claims both clubs saw approaches fail.
Philipp Degen – now an agent – told the Blood Red podcast (via the Liverpool Echo): “It is one of the biggest victories for Dortmund [to sign Bellingham] because the challenge to get this player was very, very high and they had to fight for months.
“I know his agent, and I am a very good friend of him. I know which kind of fight it was – every top club in Europe wanted to sign him.
“Dortmund made this challenge and they won it and it is the right step for me to get to a big star. Dortmund have shown before that they can develop players to a higher level. They can do very big steps, so it was the right decision.
“Real, Barca, AC Milan, Inter, AS Roma, Bayern Munich, Dortmund – all the top teams in England, especially Man United – and when you see the fight for this boy, it was massive.
“Even between the agents – and I know Mark (Jude’s father) , his agent very well – and I really like when people have a straight mind and they never forget from where they are coming.
“It was the right decision and the right move – that is clear.”
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