Bellingham Could Hurt The Club Desperate To Sign Him

As Jude Bellingham sat behind the top table at the Etihad Stadium, to his right were three massive images, filling a wall.

- RICHARD JOLLY

Kevin de Bruyne, Rodri and Erling Haaland, each holding a trophy from Manchester City’s treble. There is an alternative future in which a supersized picture of him would stare out, where he could find himself next to Rodri and De Bruyne on a wall and in a midfield.

City wanted him last year. They were not alone in that. Liverpool did too, before bowing out of the bidding. And yet, for one of the most coveted players on the planet, the decision was actually a simple one.

“I had conversations with other teams but when Madrid came in it was a no-brainer really,” he said. “The size of the club, the project, the plan going forward, the chance to play with such amazing players: I just jumped at it. That’s why I made my decision.”

It is one City may have cause to regret. The one who got away could end their spell as champions of Europe. They could not get Bellingham, or anyone like him. Their midfield additions instead were Mateo Kovacic and Matheus Nunes: neither remotely of Bellingham’s calibre, though their combined cost of £75m is not far off the £88m Real Madrid paid, which could rise to £115m. The probability is that each will begin on the bench when Bellingham lines up at the Etihad Stadium in visiting colours: he did so last season, too, scoring for Borussia Dortmund in a group-stage defeat. A Champions League quarter-final for Real, with a tie intriguingly poised at 3-3, feels an altogether bigger occasion again.