Man City handed major boost in race to sign Jude Bellingham

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Manchester City could have a significant advantage in the race to sign Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham.

Bellingham, 19, is a candidate to leave the Bundesliga at the end of the season with Pep Guardiola’s Cityzens and Real Madrid both believed to be in the mix to sign him.

Los Blancos are on the lookout for a long-term replacement for veteran midfielder Luka Modric.

“They [Real Madrid] have said they view him as part of Luka Modric and Toni Kroos’ replacement,” British agent Haydn Dodge said in his exclusive column last year.

“They want Bellingham to make up a midfield three alongside Federico Valverde and Eduardo Camavinga, and that is a frightening prospect.”

However, wanting and actually securing the talented midfielder are two very different things, and according to a report from AS, the Spanish giants face one major hurdle when it comes to convincing the 19-year-old of swapping black and yellow for all white.

Borussia Dortmund, who have Bellingham under contract until 2025, are in no rush to sell him but should they be forced to consider offers, will only do so should an offer of £133m (€150m) come in.

The problem for Carlo Ancelotti’s Madrid though is that the club are only prepared to offer £89m (€100m), and as CaughtOffside exclusively reported, which was later backed up by other journalists, such as Jan Aage Fjotoft, Liverpool’s offer of £84m for Bellingham was rejected, so it seems hard to imagine Dortmund would then agree to a deal worth just an extra £5m.

How this could play into Man City’s hands is obvious – with the Premier League champions blessed financially, and already having Bellingham’s former teammate Erling Haaland among their options, the possibility of seeing the England international turn out in sky blue next season is edging closer to becoming a reality.

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