Edwin van der Sar has had talks in the past to bring Jude Bellingham to Ajax, the general manager of the team from Amsterdam tells. Tuttosport. Van der Sar spoke to the parents of the English talent when he still played at Birmingham City, but had to watch as he made the switch to Borussia Dortmund not much later.
Bellingham has been nominated for the Golden Boy election, an award ceremony in which Van der Sar is part of the jury. In conversation with the above-mentioned newspaper, the director of Ajax looks ahead to the election, but also discusses the failed transfer of Bellingham. Van der Sar acknowledges that he has always liked the young midfielder and sees Bellingham as his personal favourite. “When he still played for Birmingham City, we talked to his parents about bringing him to Ajax,” says Van der Sar.
Van der Sar indicates that his parents thought it was still too early for a switch to Ajax. “He and his parents then preferred to stay in England and postponed the foreign adventure for a year. Then he chose Borussia Dortmund.” Bellingham had the clubs to sort out in the summer of 2020. His father spoke to Manchester United and Dortmund, among others, with the latter coming out as the winner. As an example, the family praised the development of fellow countryman Jadon Sancho, who has already made his way back to England.
Bellingham soon made his debut in the shirt of BVB and at 17 years and 77 days became the youngest ever goalscorer on behalf of Dortmund in the DFB-Pokal. When Bellingham entered the group stage of the Champions League against Lazio on October 20 last year, he also became the youngest Englishman to kick off the billion-dollar ball. The midfielder took over the record from Phil Foden. Bellingham has so far played 48 games for Dortmund, scoring four times.
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