Rio Ferdinand has urged Manchester United to sign England and Borussia Dortmund midfield sensation Jude Bellingham next summer.
This comes just days after Roy Keane spoke in a similar fashion about Bellingham, 18, who is quickly becoming one of the hottest prospects in Europe.
The former Birmingham City ace already has 10 caps for his county and a lot of former professionals are going out of their way to speak highly of his performances — not just against below average teams for England, but in the Champions League for Dortmund also.
“I saw him recently playing for Dortmund in a Champions League game,” Keane told ITV, as quoted by Balls.ie.
“He was producing passes and I was even like, I didn’t think he had that in his locker quite yet. And we’re not seeing him week-in week-out.”
Keane continued: “The potential for this boy, and he’s a good size, he looks like a footballer. He looks like a boxer. He’s a strong, powerful boy.”
💬 “He wears No 22 because he’s a 10, an eight and a four… he’s got everything!”@IanWright0 and Roy Keane ❤️ @BellinghamJude 😍 pic.twitter.com/Xj2icHK5BW
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) November 15, 2021
Bellingham is destined for big things and United knew that all along because they were on alert before he made his switch to Dortmund. Sir Alex Ferguson even met his parents for a tour around Carrington to help persuade the youngster to sign (via The Metro) but in the end, he decided to follow Jadon Sancho’s footsteps by moving to the Bundesliga to kick-start his career in a transfer that made Birmingham £20m in transfer fees.
On top of that, Bellingham has made 64 appearances for Borussia Dortmund, scoring seven goals and assisting a further 11 goals.
He is clearly a midfielder with a bit of everything in his locker – arguably what people wrongly thought we were getting when re-signing Paul Pogba from Juventus back in 2016.
Speaking on his very own podcast, Vibe with Five, Ferdinand dropped a hint to his former club: “There aren’t that many midfielders now who can attack and defend and affect the game at both ends of the pitch.
“When you are one of the super clubs, you think if we have got the financial muscle to get him, he is one you don’t want to miss out on.”
Of course, United know what it’s like to miss out on Bellingham and they shouldn’t be prepared to allow that to happen again.
A player of his calibre is exactly what we need in the middle, and it would definitely cushion the potential blow of losing Pogba – not that I think many fans have the same affection for the Frenchman as they had previously due to non-stop talk about his future and that odious agent he works alongside.
Ferdinand was also asked which midfield role suits Bellingham best. He said: “Any. He is that good.
“In the England youth teams, there were times he was playing as a holding midfielder, the no8, box-to-box, and times he can go on and join the attack even more.
“He has the capability and capacity to play all of the roles, he is that good. I think for him I see him as someone who can do it all.”
