Manchester United icon Jaap Stam still dreams of seeing Jude Bellingham join the Premier League giants with the Real Madrid and England star on his way to becoming ‘one of the greats’.
Now, Manchester United have made quite a tradition of raiding the Santiago Bernabeu in recent years. But if Jaap Stam is waiting for Jude Bellingham to follow in the footsteps of Casemiro, Raphael Varane and Angel di Maria, well, let’s just say the Dutchman would be best advised against holding his breath.
Bellingham, Man United’s one-that-got-away, joined Real Madrid from Borussia Dortmund in an £88 million deal last summer, three-and-a-half years after being given a guided tour around the Red Devils’ Carrington training ground (Daily Mail).
Andres Manzano, a sporting advisor at Birmingham City, even admitted in an interview with Sport this week that the club where a 16-year-old Bellingham burst onto the scene had been leaning in favour of United’s offer, only for the player himself to decide on a move to Germany instead.
Manchester United missed out on Jude Bellingham
Bellingham has been on an almost vertical trajectory since then. There is arguably not a more in-form player in world football right now, Bellingham scoring 14 goals in his last 16 games for club and country while establishing himself as the posterboy of Real Madrid just a few months after his 20th birthday.
A place in the Real history books is already assured, meanwhile. Bellingham’s rocket of an equaliser paving the way for his own 92nd minute equaliser as the Englishman turned his Clasico debut into ‘The Jude Show’
“If he keeps on making these steps and making this progress, he can become a very, very good player. He is already a great player, and everything is going well for him,” Stam tells BBC’s Football Focus, refusing to give up yet on his dream of seeing Bellingham swap white for red.
‘Take United to the next step’
“He’s going to be one of the greats, probably. It’s great to see him play for Real Madrid,” Stam adds.
“But I would prefer to see him play for a different team in the UK! But that’s how it goes, you know. These are the players United need to look for. These types of players, like Bellingham, like (Barcelona’s) Frenkie de Jong.
“These are the kinds of players who are going to take United to the next step.”
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