Speaking on the No Tippy Tappy Football Podcast, Tony Bellew has been discussing Jude Bellingham and what he’s heard about the youngster.
You may be thinking, what does a boxing world champion know about football? Well, Bellew actually has a number of friends within the game including Birmingham City’s Technical Director, Craig Gardner.
Bellew says that he spoke with Gardner about Bellingham when he was just 16 years old, and even back then he was being told about Liverpool’s interest in the teenager, while Garnder touted the midfielder as the best young player he’d ever seen.
LIVERPOOL WANTED HIM
Bellew shared what he was told about Bellingham when he was just 16.
“I’m good friends with Craig Gardner who is a part of the staff at Birmingham now, and he said to me years ago ‘there’s a kid here, and Liverpool want him, United want him, but he’s going to go to Germany. He’s the best youngster I’ve seen in my life, trust me, he is unbelievable.’ He told me his name was Jude Bellingham and that he was going to Germany for his development,” Bellew said.
“I don’t know if he turned them down, but I know they all wanted him, Liverpool wanted him and all of that. I don’t know how it works, but I have friends who are agents and I’m not sure if they told him to go to Germany because they knew they’d get a big deal for him on the way back through. Fair play to Craig because he told me how good he is and this was three years ago. He said he was frighteningly good, Craig Gardner knows his football, he’s been around the block.”
SPOT ON
Craig Gardner may not be known as one of the greatest footballing minds in the world, but he spotted Bellingham’s potential a mile off.
To say that the Borussiad Dortmund midfielder is unbelievable is an understatement these days. He’s taken the World Cup by storm, and a ground-breaking move looks to be on the horizon this summer.
Liverpool missed out when Bellingham was 16, but if recent reports are to be believed, they’re going to make sure they don’t suffer the same fate this time around.
