Manchester United missed out on Jude Bellingham before his move to Borussia Dortmund with former Old Trafford ace Daley Blind now full of praise for the Real Madrid superstar.
With every goal Jude Bellingham scores, the pain grows. The pinch becomes that little bit more eye-watering. The regret turns to dejection.
As Manchester United performed their usual party piece of throwing away a two-goal lead (twice, for good measure) away at Galatasaray, Real Madrid’s Birmingham-bred talisman stormed into the knock-out stages with another barnstorming display at home to Napoli.
A glorious header put Real 2-1 up on the night. The England international’s 15th goal in 16 games. An assist for Joselu at the death, meanwhile, was the icing on top of another Man of the Match display from arguably the best footballer on planet earth.
Manchester United’s one that got away
“What he is showing now is unprecedented,” Daley Blind, who spent four years at Man United between 2014 and 2018, tells Ziggo Sport.
“The efficiency of him… He sees the moment. He sees the space. He’s a great purchase. 100 million euros, he is more than worth (that fee). He fires Real Madrid to victory in almost every match.
Bellingham famously visited Manchester United’s Carrington training ground back in 2020. He opted to follow in the footsteps of Jadon Sancho and Erling Haaland at Borussia Dortmund a few months down the line, much to the disappointment of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
The former Red Devils boss, in a rare interview with The Athletic, admitted that United wanted Bellingham ‘badly’ at the time.
Jude Bellingham is Real Madrid’s main man
“If he continues, he will be an absolute world star,” Blind adds of a man who inherited Zinedine Zidane’s number five shirt at Real Madrid and is now making it his own.
“Zidane was more of a man on the ball, of tricks. Bellingham is strong on the ball, but also has great running actions (without it).”
Real Madrid paid an initial £88 million for Bellingham back in June. Manchester United could have got that very same player for a third of the fee when he was still a baby-faced up-and-comer making quite the reputatuon for himself at Birmingham.
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