It has been revealed that Chelsea compiled 62 scouting reports on Jude Bellingham, which included a “FIFA reel”, only to miss out on his signature.

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Midfielder caught the eye at BirminghamAlways destined to become a superstarBlues had hoped to acquire that potentialGettyWHAT HAPPENED?

The Blues were among those to spot Bellingham’s potential early on, with it clear for all to see that the Birmingham native was going to be a superstar. He made his senior debut at the age of 16 and is now on the books of Real Madrid, having become a full England international at Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund.

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Chelsea had hoped to be the ones benefiting from the Golden Boy winner's many talents, with a lot of time and effort spent monitoring his progress. Yousuf Saijad, who worked as a scout at Stamford Bridge before spending time with Arsenal and FC Den Bosch, has told the YouTube channel: “We had a really good scouting team that worked across the top players, like Jude Bellingham for example, who was probably the most work I’ve ever done on a player in that season that we tried to sign Jude. We had reports on him from when he was an Under-12 and all the way up to Under-16 when he was Birmingham. We had like 62 reports from 25 different scouts and so when we got to a point where we felt like we wanted to sign him it was about how can we make what we present to him different from every other top club?

“So we had all of the content that we needed from Under-12 to Under-16 from a reporting perspective so let’s try and create trends on what’s stayed the same for him as a player – such as his celebration – but at the same time pick up what he has developed and what he still needs to develop. We then attached that with footage and had a real long video of him playing at 12, 13, 14 and all the way up and highlighting those traits and then at the end we’d put him on a FIFA reel in a Chelsea kit and trying to think outside the box really. I spent a lot of my time on the end part where we were making decisions, presenting that information to players, collecting information and making it as unique as possible to get a deal over the line. He was always on our radar from the moment I joined as a top talent to keep an eye on. Of course in terms of recruiting he was outside of distance at the younger ages but got to Under-14 and we had a full-time schools programme so it was easier at the time but he didn’t want to move. We just continuously followed him. He was always a player who we rated highly and was always on our radar.”

GettyTHE BIGGER PICTURE

Pressed further on why Bellingham ended up in Dortmund, instead of west London, Saijad added: “It was a time when there wasn’t a pathway. There wasn’t many examples at that point where he could say this would be a good move for me to join. To be fair, you understand it in the end because he obviously chose the right path for himself because of what he’s doing now, but at the time we had Tino Anjorin who was flying at the time, Mason Mount and players in and around his position that were also of a real good level. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to come in and compete but more just thinking at the time ‘if they’re not making it at this point then maybe I need to pick a different option’.”

WHAT NEXT?

Bellingham left Birmingham for Dortmund in 2020, going on to take in 132 appearances for BVB. His stock soared to the point that a €103 million (£88m/$110m) move to Real Madrid was made in 2023, with the 20-year-old reaching the 20-goal mark in his debut campaign at Santiago Bernabeu.