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Frank Lampard believes Chelsea missed out on signing Jude Bellingham in 2020 as they were unable to convince the midfielder and his family that he would be guaranteed an immediate starting role at the club.
After announcing himself as one of the most promising players in world football, a then teenage Bellingham visited Chelsea’s training base in Cobham as clubs from around Europe battled it out for his signature.
But Bellingham would go on to complete a £25million switch from Birmingham to Borussia Dortmund, becoming the most expensive 17-year-old in the history of the game in the process.
It’s understood the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich had also attempted to lure Bellingham away from St Andrews before Dortmund won out that summer.
The Englishman quickly established himself as a key player for Dortmund and helped the club win the German cup at the end of the 2020/21 campaign before being named in the Bundesliga Team of the Season in consecutive seasons.
Bellingham’s extraordinary spell in Germany earned him a £88.5m move to Real Madrid last summer and the 20-year-old enjoyed one of the all-time great debut seasons, scoring 23 goals in 42 appearances as Los Blancos won La Liga, the Champions League and the Spanish Super Cup.
Over the coming weeks, England’s hopes at Euro 2024 are centre around Bellingham’s performances in Germany.
Previewing the tournament with Jamie Redknapp for Sky Sports, Lampard heaped praise on Bellingham and lifted the lid on Chelsea’s pursuit of the midfielder four years ago.
‘I remember when I was Chelsea manager, we tried to get Jude Bellingham and we knew that everyone was in for him,’ the ex-Chelsea midfielder turned manager told Redknapp.
‘It was ourselves, I think it was Manchester United, Manchester City, all the big boys. He came with his parents and my selling point was, “Well, I’ve got Mason Mount, I’ve got Reece James, I’m playing young players”.
‘But I think they probably weighed it up and went, “We know he’s going to play [at Dortmund], it’s out of his comfort zone…”.’
Asked if Bellingham and his parents demanded he played immediately, Lampard replied: ‘No, I think they were probably more polite than that.
‘But yeah, from the questions they asked it was quite clear that they didn’t want him to sit there and sort of feeling his way into the team for years.
‘What he did at Dortmund was special because he played regularly, his personality grew.
‘But what he’s doing at Real Madrid, I don’t know what to compare it to in terms of an English player, at his age, to go and make that impact straight away.’
Redknapp believes the success Bellingham achieved in his opening season in Spain is ‘unprecedented’ in the game.
‘No, I haven’t seen it before. It’s unprecedented,’ the former Liverpool, Tottenham and England midfielder said.
‘He’s doing it in such a cool way as well. He’s got the celebration when he stands there and scores a goal and he’s like a matador.
‘He’s got them eating out the palm of his hand.’
Speaking ahead of England’s Euro 2024 opener with Serbia, Gareth Southgate backed Bellingham to have the ‘mentality’ to cope with the inevitable pressure he will face in Germany.
‘I’m sure he is [capable of handling the pressure] but we are not putting everything on Jude,’ the England head coach told reporters.
‘We’ve got a lot of good players and it is a collective thing to go and try to win this tournament. If we are relying on one person that isn’t going to be a team that wins.
‘He is, of course, a player with fabulous mentality and will have a big impact on the whole group but the biggest thing over the past couple of games, we’ve never had the collective together on the pitch at the same time.’
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