Former Chelsea manager Frank Lampard may have cost the Blues millions in the transfer market in failing to convince Jude Bellingham to join the west London outfit years ago. The youngster instead made the switch to Borussia Dortmund, where he has seen his rise to stardom begin.
The 19-year-old has been a regular in the first-team, even going on to captain them in some games, while his influence on the England national team since his introduction has been huge too. This was seen most clearly at the Qatar 2022 World Cup, where Bellingham was a regular top performer for the Three Lions.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp was the latest in a string of top coaches to praise the midfielder, telling reporters: "He played an exceptional World Cup. Absolutely exceptional. With all the things he has and things he can improve, to describe him I would say the things he can do are difficult to learn, and the things he can improve are easy to learn. He is a really good player."
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Chelsea are among a whole host of elite clubs eyeing a move for the midfielder, who is said to be worth somewhere in the region of £150million. With Todd Boehly looking to rebuild the midfield, it could come as an expensive task, though that could have been much cheaper.
That's because years ago, former boss Lampard failed to land Bellingham when he was leaving Birmingham. Former Birmingham chief Dong Ren told The Times: "He went to Stamford Bridge to have a meeting with Chelsea. He met with [former director] Marina Granovskaia in person. They had a meeting organised by [then manager] Frank Lampard. He told him his plan for him but he didn’t convince him.
"Just before the final three games of the season, he decided to go to Dortmund."
It could prove a huge mistake from Lampard in being unable to convince the youngster, at best costing them hundreds of millions of pounds in the market, at worst losing him to a rival.
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