Jude Bellingham’s meteoric rise to stardom happened quickly but seemed inevitable for some time, as he jumped from boyhood club Birmingham to Borussia Dortmund and then to Real Madrid.
The 21-year-old is now an established global superstar, having scored 23 goals in his debut season for Los Blancos, won La Liga and the Champions League, and inspired England at a World Cup and European Championship.
Following in the footsteps of such a uniquely gifted player, then, would appear to be an unenviable task. But Bellingham’s brother, Jobe, looks on course for similarly big things.
Borussia Dortmund interested in Jobe Bellingham
According to The Sun, the Sunderland midfielder is a target for Dortmund, who have their sights set on another precocious Bellingham.
Jobe, at 19, has developed at a slightly slower pace than his brother, who moved to Dortmund for £30 million at the age of just 17, before his £115m switch to Real Madrid.
Sunderland reportedly want £20m for Bellingham, who has enjoyed a superb start to the 2024/25 season. He has scored two goals and provided one assist in 13 appearances for the current Championship league leaders, impressing with his all-action displays in midfield.
Dortmund are said to have been planning a scouting mission at Sunderland’s clash with Preston last week, but Bellingham was sent off in his side’s previous game against QPR and handed a three-match ban.
Sunderland, according to the report, are likely to be “careful” around Bellingham’s future, amid concerns that they might lose other key players and see their Championship promotion push derailed.
The Black Cats boss Regis Le Bris has highlighted Bellingham’s improvement this season, although acknowledged that there is still room for improvement.
“He is very young, but he has shown good consistency," the Frenchman said. "We have tried to find a stable position for him, and the repetition of experiences, game after game, has been useful to stabilise his role. He is learning all the different tasks he is having to manage during a game, and during different games. I think he has improved many things in his game. He still has a huge potential to discover, but so far, he has done very well."
In FFT’s view, Bellingham potentially joining Dortmund has a certain romanticism to it, and he certainly appears to have significant potential. But Jobe should not be constantly compared to his brother, and it should not be assumed that he will follow an identical path.
