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UE Cornellà director and former Birmingham City advisor Andrés Manzano has admitted that the overwhelming belief during his time at St Andrew’s was that Jude Bellingham would join Manchester United.
United are one of the clubs who missed out on signing Bellingham when he made the move from Birmingham to Borussia Dortmund in 2020.
The Red Devils pulled out all the stops to convince the promising midfielder to snub other interested parties in favour of an Old Trafford switch.
United invited the player and his family for a tour of the club’s facilities and even organized a meeting with legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
It was eventually not enough as Dortmund won the race for Bellingham. In Germany, he set the world alight before earning a big-money move to Real Madrid this summer.
To say the Englishman has taken well to life at the Santiago Bernabeu would be an understatement. In 12 appearances across all competitions for Los Blancos, the 20-year-old has plundered an impressive 11 goals. He has also notched three assists.
In a short space of time, Bellingham has made himself the main man at Real Madrid. He is a typical case of a missed opportunity for the Red Devils who have in recent years developed a track record of losing out on young players to rival teams.
Manzano told Sport that he was left speechless the first time he watched Bellingham at Birmingham and when the big clubs started declaring their interest, everyone at the Championship outfit believed United would come out on top.
“We went to watch a U23 game that was playing against a senior team. I remember that, after 10 minutes, I asked for the first time how old the number 7 was. They told me he was from 2003. I thought he couldn’t be and I was shocked. I was embarrassed to ask again for fear that they would think I didn’t understand English, but I ended up doing it.”
“The director of the academy repeated that he was from 2003. So, I thought that that player was of another level.”
He added, “From the club, I will not deceive you, it looked good that he would go to Manchester because in the end it is a closer club and you could have a series of exchanges, but he and the family decided that the best option was Borussia Dortmund.”
“And I thought he was right.”
