Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes has expressed his desire to see Jude Bellingham sign for the club, but fears that Real Madrid will win the race for the in-demand midfielder. Bellingham is expected to leave Borussia Dortmund this summer in what is likely to be a record sale for a Bundesliga club, with Manchester City, United, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid among the many clubs interested. Liverpool were initially considered frontrunners for Bellingham’s signature, but have since pulled out of the running due to the size of the probable transfer fee and the need for a rebuild at Anfield.
Scholes believes that United are now a much more attractive destination for Bellingham, but suspects that the England international may be lured to the Bernabeu. He told BT Sport: “If you’d have gone back a couple of years you’d have said absolutely no chance – or even at the start of this season when the start wasn’t really good. But now I think they have to be [in the mix for Bellingham]. Him looking at this team now, he’ll think: this is a team, a club, that are up-and-coming for the next couple of years. I do think he’ll sign for Real Madrid, I don’t know why, I’ve just got that feeling. Hopefully he comes here, because this is a team now – with someone like Bellingham and his goals from the middle of the pitch – he could make United a proper team.”
Fellow pundit Owen Hargreaves agreed with Scholes, adding: “I think if he looks at it personally, he looks at Casemiro and he looks at Bruno Fernandes with Bellingham then in between, he’ll be thinking, ‘That could be me’. But I’m with Scholesy, I think he’ll be looking [elsewhere]. Once Real Madrid come knocking the boys tend to end up going there.”
Bellingham actually visited Carrington when he was still at Birmingham City, with United rolling out the red carpet and arranging for Sir Alex Ferguson to meet the young midfielder, though he opted to join Dortmund after they promised to fast-track him into the first team.