Bellingham reveals why he rejected Liverpool for Real Madrid

Stuart Telford

• Updated: 4 Jul 2023 17:23 BST
• 3 min read

Jude Bellingham has lifted the lid on his summer transfer to Real Madrid from Borussia Dortmund - a €133.9 million move which saw the England midfielder spurn Liverpool and a host of other clubs.

Bellingham was Jurgen Klopp's top transfer target since last summer, with the German manager deliberately only signing Arthur Melo on loan from Juventus to help the Anfield club fund a move for Bellingham in 2023.

But while Arthur's injury problems restricted him to just 13 minutes of playing time - in a 4-1 loss to Napoli in the Champions League group stage - Bellingham's stock continued to rise at Dortmund, to the point that Florentino Perez considered him a suitable cornerstone for his next 'Galactico' era.

READ: 'Jude Bellingham BETTER than Zinedine Zidane'

Bellingham's father Mark - a non-league goal-scorer of quite some aplomb - spoke to Liverpool about his son moving to Merseyside, alongside his younger brother Jobe Bellingham, but Jude only had one destination in mind.

Real 'the biggest club in the world'

"[My target is] just to try and win. That's why the club have signed me, that's why I'm there," Bellingham told Sky Sports. "That's why I've joined the biggest club in the world, to try and keep adding to the history and win trophies.

"I'm buzzing. It's a move that's a dream move for me. I'm there now. I feel like I've done all the talking, now it's about getting ready and starting playing. I'm just so happy to be at the club."

READ: Real Madrid make Tchouameni exit decision

Bellingham joins a stacked midfield stable at the Santiago Bernabeu, with Luka Modric, Toni Kroos and Dani Ceballos all recently extending their contracts while Aurelien Tchouameni and Eduardo Camavinga at also on the books.

Liverpool publicly withdrew from the Bellingham race with his asking price escalating in April, but have since spent a combined €112m on signing fellow midfielders Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai from Brighton and RB Leipzig respectively.