Borussia Dortmund have confirmed that they have agreed a deal to sell Jude Bellingham to Real Madrid.
Bellingham is poised to join Real on a six-year contract after the Spanish giants agreed to pay an initial fee of €103million (£88m), with a further €30m (£25m) due in potential add-ons.
Bellingham joined Dortmund for £25million from Birmingham City in July 2020 as a 17-year-old. He has made 132 appearances for the German club, contributing 24 goals and 25 assists to establish himself as one of the stand-out midfielders in European football.
He was courted by Liverpool and Manchester City, but Real have won the race to sign the 19-year-old. He will join Aurelien Tchouaméni, Fede Valverde and Eduardo Camavinga as the next generation of the Los Blancos midfield, with Luka Modric and Toni Kroos nearing the end of their careers.
As previously reported by Mirror Football, Bellingham has been offered a six-year contract by Real. He is expected to start his career in Madrid on a weekly wage that falls well short of the Spanish club’s highest-paid players, but will increase in 2025 and 2026.
Liverpool had previously been interested in signing Bellingham, but they backed out of the race in April due to the numbers involved. “My answer now is not about Jude Bellingham. I never understood why we constantly talk about things we theoretically cannot have. We cannot have six players in the summer for £100m [each], for example. That’s clear,” Jurgen Klopp said.
"You have to realise what you can do and then you have to work with that. How much money do we have available? Then we work with that. That’s the job you have to do.
“We are not children. You ask a five-year-old what they want for Christmas and they tell you, ‘I want a Ferrari.’ You wouldn’t say ‘That’s a good idea’. You would say, ‘No, it’s too expensive and you cannot drive it’.”
Bellingham leaves Dortmund following a heart-breaking failure to secure the Bundesliga title. Dortmund drew 2-2 with Mainz on the final day of the season to hand the title to Bayern Munich, who scored an 89th-minute winner to beat Cologne.
Real are set to be busy in the summer transfer window, with the Spanish giants needing to replace star striker Karim Benzema, who is joining Saudi Arabian side Al-Ittihad.
Tottenham striker Harry Kane is one of the players they are interested in signing, meaning Bellingham could end up playing alongside his England team-mate next season.
