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Bayern Munich would not consider selling a player of Jude Bellingham’s quality if the Borussia Dortmund midfielder was at the Allianz Arena, according to Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.
England international Bellingham is into his third campaign with Bundesliga side Dortmund and is considered one of the finest talents in world football, having impressed for both club and country.
The 19-year-old this week captained BVB to a 4-1 win at Sevilla, where he became only the second teenager to score in the first three games of a Champions League campaign after former team-mate Erling Haaland at Salzburg in the 2019-20 season.
Bellingham’s continued fine form has led to strong talk from Spain that Real Madrid are already in talks to sign the youngster at the end of the season, although they may face competition from Premier League heavyweights Chelsea and Liverpool.
Dortmund would reportedly be open to selling Bellingham if a big enough offer is tabled, but Rummenigge insists that would never be the case at rivals Bayern, whom he spent nearly 30 years with as part of the club’s board.
“As a rule, Bayern Munich do not need to sell players in order to improve their balance sheet,” long-serving Bayern CEO Rummenigge told Funke Mediengruppe.
“At Dortmund, there is already talk of Bellingham leaving. Bayern would not sell such a player.”
Bellingham’s tally of three Champions League goals this season is already a joint-high among English teenagers for a single campaign, along with Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney in the 2004-05 season.
He has featured 102 times for Dortmund in all competitions since arriving from Birmingham City in July 2020 and been capped 17 times by England at senior level – a tally he is certain to add to at this year’s World Cup.
And former England centre-back Rio Ferdinand recently commented he believes Bellingham is ahead of any other previous midfielders at the same age.
“What he’s doing in his position at his age, we haven’t seen,” Ferdinand told BT Sport. “The best of our generation, [Frank] Lampard, [Steven] Gerrard, [Paul] Scholes, [Patrick] Vieira, Roy Keane, they weren’t doing this.
“He’s still got to go on and prove it over a long period of time, but they weren’t doing what he is doing right now [at the same age]. Influencing games at this level, captaining teams at this level, and mentally this kid’s a beast.”
