Jude Bellingham: the most expensive midfielder ever?

Stuart Telford

• Updated: 23 May 2023 08:46 CDT
• 4 min read

English youngster Jude Bellingham has been tipped to become the most expensive midfielder of all time after a blistering start to the 2022/23 campaign with Borussia Dortmund.

Bellingham has made an electric start to the season with Dortmund. A central midfielder, he has already scored eight goals in all competitions this term and led BVB out in the Champions League at the tender age of 19.

He was also perhaps the only player who emerged with his reputation enhanced after England's relegation from UEFA Nations League Group A3, and is surely one of the first names on Gareth Southgate's teamsheet for the winter World Cup in Qatar.

Transfer specialist Fabrizio Romano certainly thinks Bellingham's in for a big-money move in the not-too-distant future.

"Jude Bellingham has already scored 8 goals this season - including four in Champions League" he posted on Twitter. "…it's just October, he's supposed to be a midfielder and he's still 19.

"Jude will probably become the most expensive midfielder ever."

Is Romano right?

Well, the most expensive central midfielder of all-time remains Paul Pogba, who set Manchester United back €105 million when he re-joined the club from Juventus in 2016.

Completing the podium of players in the position are Aurelien Tchouameni, whose deal to take him from Monaco to Real Madrid this summer will eventually rise from €80m to €100m, and Frenkie de Jong, who cost Barcelona €75m when he joined from Ajax in 2019.

Illustrious company indeed, but Bellingham already looks like he belongs among them, and the biggest clubs in Europe seem to agree.

Liverpool had been frontrunners for Bellingham's signature, but Manchester City could have a secret weapon in his former Dortmund teammate Erling Haaland, while Real are reportedly the reason he hasn't discussed terms on an extension with Dortmund.

— Football Transfers (@Transfersdotcom) April 14, 2022

Bellingham's contract at the Signal Iduna Park runs until 2025, so any potential suitor would have to buy him out of it.

Bellingham is rated at €78m by Football Transfers' in-house algorithm while Dortmund were previously reported to be willing to accept €93m for their player, provided it was paid in one instalment. But with so many big guns chasing Bellingham, a bidding war could see his price rise.

Throw in a good World Cup and the transfer premium that comes with it, and Romano could be as on the money and Dortmund are rolling in it.