- 19 hours ago
‘Don’t be silly, man!’ - Bellingham savagely snubs Man Utd move
Carlo Garganese
- 20 Dec 2022 09:20 GMT
- 3 min read
Jude Bellingham has seemingly ended any chance of a transfer to Manchester United.
The England World Cup star was asked by a Man Utd fan if he was going to join the Red Devils, to which a smiling Bellingham sniped: “Don’t be silly, man”.
Bellingham’s words will come as a disappointment to all Manchester United supporters as the Borussia Dortmund midfielder has emerged as a main target for 2023.
The Englishman is one of the hottest properties in football right now, with a host of major clubs all interested in signing him.
What clubs are interested in signing Bellingham?
Liverpool are considered favourites, but there is strong interest elsewhere.
Real Madrid, Man City, PSG and Chelsea also would like to sign him.
It is reported that Bellingham has overtaken Frenkie de Jong as Man Utd’s number one central midfield target for 2023.
Man Utd were in negotiations to sign De Jong for much of the past summer, on the orders of manager Erik Ten Hag.
Barcelona are understood to have accepted an €85m bid from Man Utd in July, and made it clear that they wanted him to move to Old Trafford.
In the end, De Jong refused to join Man Utd and stayed at Barcelona, despite interest from Chelsea and Bayern Munich as well.
This resulted in Man Utd signing Casemiro from Real Madrid for over €70m in order to fill their needs in central midfield.
However, Ten Hag still believes that Man Utd are at least one man short in centre midfield and wants to buy a more progressive player than Casemiro.
This has led the club to making Bellingham a main target for 2023.
Bellingham’s words may now complicate that aim. The teenager was one of the young stars of the 2022 World Cup, scoring one, assisting one and being arguably England’s best player as they reached the quarter-finals.
Dortmund are expected to sell their star man next summer, having decided against losing him in 2022 during the same window that they lost Erling Haaland to Man City for €60m.
