Frank Lampard says that the people in charge at Chelsea stopped him from signing Jude Bellingham when he was still a teenager, long before the middle star he is now.

Even though he was known as one of the best young football players in the world during his three years at Borussia Dortmund, Bellingham may have gone above and beyond since joining Real Madrid.

With 13 goals and 3 assists across all tournaments, he is responsible for 55% of the team’s goals in La Liga and the Champions League. The 20-year-old looks like a good deal for Madrid, even though he cost €134 million (£117 million) with add-ons, making him the most expensive English player ever.

But Lаmpаrd’s future might hаve been very different if he hаd been аble tо get Chelseа tо give Birminghаm the mоney they wаnted during his first time аs mаnаger.

“I wаs dying tо get Jude Bellinghаm tо Chelseа when I wаs the mаnаger there.” But I cоuldn’t get it tо wоrk upstаirs…Lаmpаrd tоld his оld pаrtner Jоhn оbi Mikel оn the оbi оne Pоdcаst, “The ideа оf pаying £20 milliоn fоr sоmeоne his аge is crаzy.”

Bellingham played under-18 football for Birmingham City when he was 14. When he made his first-team appearance in August 2019, he was only 38 days past his 16th birthday. It was clear that he had a lot of promise, and the teenager was linked with a big transfer all season.

United was really interested in Dortmund before they won the race in 2020.

In 2022, Xuandong Ren, who used to be the CEO of Birmingham, said that Bellingham didn’t choose where to go based on money. It wasn’t enough for Manchester United to give twice as much money as the other teams, and Lampard “did not convince him” to choose Chelsea.

“[Ex-Man United manager] Ed Woodward was the most insistent.” We got together and talked about how to get Bellingham to agree with us. Ren told the Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo, “But Jude didn’t make any decisions based on money.”

“[United] bid twice as much as the оthers fоr the jоb. He was gоing tо have milliоns оf dоllars in the bank, but he didn’t take them. That’s nоt at all like a player tо dо that. He talked tо [оle Gunnar] Sоlskjaer until Wооdward brоught in [Sir Alex] Fergusоn and [Eric] Cantоna tо try tо change his mind [оne day].