Man Utd, Bellingham move failed as they ‘wouldn’t give’ assurances on first-team football – Ferdinand
Rio Ferdinand has repeated how Manchester United missed out on signing Jude Bellingham a few years ago as he “wanted assurances about being a first-team player” and they wouldn’t give him that.
It’s impossible to go on social media on a match-day at the moment and not see that Bellingham has done something worth talking about for Real Madrid. The midfielder has now scored 13 times and assisted three goals in all competitions. He’s 20.
It’s not a surprise that he’s taking the world by storm after his natural progression since breaking through at Birmingham City as a 16-year-old, triggering a chain of events that would see him join Real for £114million when add-ons are tallied up.
But he could have been starring for Manchester United had they made the right choice a few years back. Former Red Devils man Ferdinand has recalled how Bellingham turned the club down three years ago as they wouldn’t guarantee him first-team football – which was common knowledge at the time.
“Do you know what I heard, it was he wanted some assurances about being a first-team player and United weren’t willing to give him those assurances, that’s what I heard from a very good source,” he said on Rio Ferdinand Presents FIVE.
“He wasn’t given assurances of being around the first team and he’s said, ‘do you know what, I know my worth, I know my value and if you don’t value me the way I see myself I’m going to have to jog on and go to another club.'”
Around three years ago was when Bellingham instead joined Borussia Dortmund, where he played 29 Bundesliga games and 10 Champions League games in his first season. Clearly they gave him the assurances he was looking for.
While hindsight would suggest United should have seen he’d become a star, it’s not often a player makes the step up from the Championship to a big side and immediately does well.
As such, while it looks like a bad decision now, there’s at least some reason for United’s reluctance. That being said, if they’d taken a gamble like Dortmund did, they might now have one of the best players in the world in their ranks.
In their defence, the Bundesliga seems an easier league for a youngster to cut their teeth in.
On the other hand, given Bellingham developed so quickly, he might well have done the same at United, and they missed out on a huge move as they couldn’t commit to displacing Fred and Scott McTominay. Sounds bad when you put it like that.
