A year ago Jude Bellingham was being shown round Manchester United’s training ground with a view to a future move.
While United’s interest may pay off long term, Bellingham decided against joining the club from Birmingham City last summer.
The young midfielder snubbed a move in favour of Borussia Dortmund, who paid a base £25 million fee for his services.
It was frustrating for United, with Bellingham regarded as one of England’s best talents, and The Evening Standard had reported Solskjaer was willing to make him part of the first team picture right away.
An objective look
We would love to be able to sit here smugly and say Bellingham’s decision to join Dortmund has been proved wrong. But it hasn’t.
Bellingham has gone straight into Dortmund’s first team and even earned a senior England call-up. He’s still just 17.
This season Bellingham has played a total of 1,820 minutes for Dortmund, including starring in the Champions League.
By way of comparison, this is three more minutes than Paul Pogba has played for United this season. Pogba has been impacted by injury of course, but this shows how much Bellingham has been used.
Would he have got the same opportunity at United? Not on the same scale.
Donny van de Beek for instance has only got 1,083 minutes to his name, and he is an established international midfielder.
Bellingham would probably be on around the same numbers, at best, if he were to have joined United.
If he had doubts about whether he would get the chances at United, he’s probably right. Dortmund are living up to his expectations in terms of giving him game time.
The other point here too, is that Bellingham is really good. He played 90 minutes in Dortmund’s Champions League match against Sevilla last night, winning six tackles – more than any player on the pitch.
Missing out on Bellingham is more of a miss for United at this point than it is for the youngster.
It’s so disappointing because the club’s scouts did their job, and United did everything possible to try and get Bellingham in. He just chose another path.
Perhaps one day he will find his way to Old Trafford. United can’t worry about that for now. The scouts should be busy trying to find the next big talent – and make sure he does not slip through our fingers.
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