Manchester City: Jude Bellingham did not want to sign for a ‘plastic club’ – report – FourFourTwo

Jude Bellingham reportedly turned down Manchester City (opens in new tab) because he didn’t want to move to a ‘plastic club’.

Bellingham continues to be strongly linked with a major move to Real Madrid (opens in new tab) this summer, after Liverpool (opens in new tab) chose not to sign Borussia Dortmund (opens in new tab) and England star because of its huge price tag.

Dortmund would like €150 million for the 19-year-old, who has quickly become one of the best midfielders in world football since joining the Bundesliga giants from boyhood club Birmingham City three years ago.

Real appear to be in pole position to secure Bellingham’s services, but City were thought to be in the running.

However, according to the German journalist Patrick Berger (opens in new tab)Bellingham and his family have ruled out the Premier League champions, allegedly viewing them as ‘plastic’ – along with other clubs backed by Gulf states such as PSG (opens in new tab) and those with a ‘crazy transfer strategy’ like Chelsea (opens in new tab).

With that in mind, it’s hard to see Bellingham back to England in the next transfer window unless Manchester United (opens in new tab) taking a somewhat unexpected approach.

The Stourbridge-born prodigy is currently seeking to help Dortmund to their first Bundesliga title since 2011/12.

As things stand, BVB is edging out arch-rivals Bayern Munich (opens in new tab) – who have been champions of Germany for the last decade – by one point with three games left in the campaign.

Bellingham has easily had the best season of his career to date in 2022/23, scoring 13 goals in all competitions and becoming the youngest ever player to wear the BVB captain’s armband.

He started all five of England’s 2022 World Cup matches and scored his first international goal to open the scoring in the Three Lions’ 6–2 win over Iran in the group stage.

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