Jude Bellingham reveals the 'biggest dream' he has for his career

Jude Bellingham is perhaps the most wanted midfielder on the planet right now, with Real Madrid, Liverpool and Manchester City all gunning for his signature this summer. Manchester United, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain also hold slightly more distant interest.

But while the 19-year-old has all the potential to become the best player in the world in the coming years and potentially join any club he wants, it is actually something from the international side of the game that appears to be his most desired career achievement.

Bellingham made his senior England debut aged 17 in November 2020 and has become an increasingly critical part of Gareth Southgate’s team. The youngster, who doesn’t turn 20 until the summer, was a bench player at Euro 2020 but has been a starter since early 2022 and earned rave reviews for his performances at the World Cup in Qatar at the end of last year.

Bellingham has already captained Dortmund on occasion this season and has admitted that wearing the armband for England is something he considers the ‘biggest honour’ he could achieve.

“That would be the biggest dream and the biggest honour in football, I think, is to captain your country,” he told Channel 4 after England’s Euro 2024 qualifying win over Ukraine on Sunday.

“There's a long pecking order that I highly respect and I'll wait my turn. In the meantime, it's picking up what I can learn from [more senior players]. This is the best place to do it.”

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Who will be the next England captain?

Harry Kane is current England captain, a role he has held since 2018 just ahead of that year’s World Cup. The Tottenham striker is almost 30 and so while he isn’t exactly on the downward slope to retirement, he may not still be an England player by the time Bellingham is 24 or 25.

Jordan Henderson is current vice-captain but, at 32, is older than Kane. Harry Maguire is another senior player in his thirties, having been Manchester United captain since 2019 and wearing the England armband for a game against Ireland in 2020.

Bellingham’s most obvious competition for the armband when Kane decides to call time on his international career is 24-year-old Declan Rice, who is already full-time West Ham captain and is likely to join a club who can offer Champions League football sooner rather than later.

When will Jude Bellingham leave Borussia Dortmund?

Dortmund are waiting for Bellingham to tell them the answer to that question. The player has been considering his future for some time but always planned to delay a decision as to whether he will stay put or pursue his next challenge until now – 90min recently revealed that he is set for more talks with the Bundesliga side in the coming weeks.

Real Madrid, Liverpool and Manchester City have all already been in talks with the Bellingham camp to present their plans for him – each of the three European giants feel they have made a compelling case for him to pick their project as his next.

But Dortmund have plans too. Even though his current contract runs until 2025, they want Bellingham to sign a new deal that would make him their highest paid player and secure his future for at least one more year. At that point, a release clause expected to be lower than their current valuation of around €150m would likely facilitate a transfer to a club of his choice in 2024.

Should Bellingham decide that now is the time to go, 90min has reported that Dortmund are standing firm over their valuation and would demand a club record selling fee in excess of the €144m package they agreed with Barcelona when Ousmane Dembele left in 2017.

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On this edition of Talking Transfers, part of the 90min podcast network, Scott Saunders, Graeme Bailey & Toby Cudworth discuss the race to sign Jude Bellingham, Roy Hodgson's return to Crystal Palace, Erling Haaland's contract, Mason Mount & more!

If you can't see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!