Man Utd and Chelsea on alert as Bellingham grows frustrated with Dortmund

FT Desk

• 1 Mar 2022 11:25 CST
• 6 min read

Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham has raised Manchester United and Chelsea’s hopes of signing the young star by showing an increasing frustration with his side’s failures on the pitch.

The German giants were knocked out of the Europa League last week by Rangers and let the gap between themselves and Bayern Munich slip to eight points following a frustrating 1-1 draw with Augsburg on Sunday.

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In both matches, Bellingham was notable angered by the performances of his teammates and seems to be increasingly at odds with Dortmund’s failure to challenge for major silverware in the short-term.

Why is Bellingham angry at Dortmund?

Bellingham, like most of Dortmund’s players, is undoubtedly frustrated at the club’s struggles on the pitch in recent weeks and that blew over in their recent clash with Rangers in the Europa League.

According to Sport1, the England international was caught shouting: "You can't get one f****** pass off, you're f****** shit. Every f****** time!" at teammate Nico Schulz. And his frustration with his team didn’t end there.

According to the German broadcasters, Bellingham clashed with midfielder Axel Witsel in Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Augsburg, when the senior Belgium international was trying to point out where Bellingham should be running to close down opposing players. The young midfielder apparently waved Witsel’s advice off in a disrespectful manner.

"If someone leads the way with performance, and Bellingham does, he is allowed to open his mouth," reported Sports1 reporter Patrick Berger, "but this is going far too far. He's dividing the dressing room with his behaviour. That doesn't go down well with the team. With his behaviour, he's starting to get on the nerves of even the experienced players."

Could this force Bellingham out of the club?

Despite Bellingham’s public anger at the lack of quality in Dortmund’s team this season, his head coach Marco Rose went to great lengths to play down the midfielder’s spats with his teammates.

"Where Jude comes from, you might communicate a bit more harshly in English,” said Rose prior to Sunday’s Bundesliga clash. “That is part of it. Jude wants to win games, he's angry - and that's what makes him and what we actually need more of."

However, if Bellingham doesn’t pull back his criticisms or the club itself grow tired of his tantrums, the relationship between both may sour rather quickly and a solution could be found in the summer if a Premier League side are willing to make a significant bid for the young England international.