Chelsea have been warned off a transfer bid for Jobe Bellingham, with the Premier League giants told the England U21 international is “not ready”.
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Teenager impressing in the ChampionshipLooking to emulate big brother JudeQuestions asked of move to Stamford BridgeFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?
Another busy summer is being speculated on at Stamford Bridge, with the Blues seemingly ready to freshen up their ranks despite investing over £1 billion ($1.3bn) on fresh faces since their Todd Boehly-led ownership group arrived in west London.
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Bellingham, the younger brother of Real Madrid superstar Jude, is said to be a player in Chelsea’s sights. His potential, at just 19 years of age, has been noted while catching the eye at Championship promotion hopefuls Sunderland.
WHAT EMMANUEL PETIT SAID
Any top-flight move would represent a big jump, though, and World Cup-winning former Blues midfielder Emmanuel Petit has told of the somewhat surprising gossip: “I have a lot of respect for Jobe Bellingham, but he isn’t ready to play for Chelsea, they cannot be compared to Sunderland in any way. It would be a jump of three or four steps, he is doing great things at Sunderland and has been linked to many top clubs, but he wouldn’t be right for Chelsea. That shouldn’t be their priority.”
Getty/GOALWHAT NEXT?
Chelsea are wary of seeing Jobe slip through their net having previously missed out on Jude, as he headed to Borussia Dortmund on the back of breaking through at Birmingham. They have already spent big on several midfielders, including splashing out nine-figure fees for Argentine star Enzo Fernandez and Ecuadorian enforcer Moises Caicedo.