Ex-Birmingham youth coach gives transfer advice to youngster amid Man Utd links

Birmingham City’s ex-youth development coach Sam Manoochehr has warned Jude Bellingham over leaving St Andrew’s this summer amid transfer links with some of Europe’s top clubs.

Reports suggest Manchester United and Borussia Dortmund are closely tracking the player, who has visited both training grounds in recent months, and it looks like he could be on the move this summer.

Upon arrival at Carrington, Sky Sports claims Bellingham enjoyed meeting former United manager Sir Alex Ferguson during his tour. The report adds that the 16-year-old is at the top of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s transfer wishlist.

The Mail previously reported that Bellingham could leave Birmingham for a fee of around £30m this summer, while Bild in Germany claim he wants to join Dortmund after turning down Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich.

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Manoochehr thinks United might be a nice fit for the youngster.

“Man United, it might be a nice fit for Jude, with a rejuvenated team, talk of Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish going over there,” he told The Mirror.

“But Dortmund would also suit, the recent profile of players that have come through that system, the likes of Jadon Sancho. Jude would fit that mould too.

“And look at what’s going on at Chelsea now. A lot of good young players in that team. Billy Gilmour the most recent one to impress, he is now shining on the big stage.

“However Jude has got to make sure that his next move, is to a club where he plays. If not, I don’t think there is any problem with him staying at Birmingham.

“He’s got to where he is at the minute coming through the whole Birmingham City program so there should be no rush to move on.”

Bellingham has tons of potential. He became Birmingham’s youngest ever player after debuting in August 2019 aged 16 years and 38 days.

And now there’s talk of him joining the biggest club in English football. How could he resist?

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Age doesn’t matter to Solskjaer as long as you’re good enough and I expect some changes to the squad this summer, so long as COVID-19 doesn’t have a negative affect on the transfer market.

Bellingham is only 16 and has a lot of learning to do. Daniel James didn’t think he’d get the amount of games he did this season, and it goes to show you need to be on your toes at all time, even when joining a club like United as a youngster.

The midfielder should see it as a great opportunity to join a group of talented young footballers because that’s what Solskjaer aims to build a team around.

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