Chelsea scouts worked hard to bring a young Jude Bellingham to the club from Birmingham City.
A former Chelsea scout has revealed how the club attempted to sign a young Jude Bellingham from Birmingham City after seeing the midfielder’s enormous potential.
Yousuf Sajjad, who has previously worked in scouting for Arsenal and Brentford, was a member of the Chelsea team in charge of young recruitment when Bellingham was a teenager. Sajjad spoke with the Rising Ballers podcast about his professional highlights, including courting Bellingham.
The scout confessed it was the longest time he had ever spent on a single player while vying with other top clubs to bring Bellingham on board. Ultimately, German club Borussia Dortmund won the sweepstakes and signed Bellingham for 2020.
The England international is currently recognized as one of the world’s top players, as he impresses with Real Madrid in La Liga. At only 20 years old, the former Birmingham man’s finest days are certainly ahead of him.
Sajjad stated, “We went for the real big players.” We had a good scouting crew that worked extremely hard.
“The most work I’ve ever done on a player was with Jude Bellingham. We received reports on him from under-12 to under-16. We received 62 reports from 25 different scouts.
“When we reached the stage where we wanted to sign him, as did every other top club in the country, it was all about delivering something unique. We sought to identify tendencies in what has remained consistent for him as a player. Pick up on what he has developed and what he still needs to develop.
“We accompanied that with footage, including a lengthy video of him playing as an under-12, 13, 14, and all the way up, showcasing those characteristics. In the end, we’d placed him on a FIFA reel wearing a Chelsea jersey, trying to think beyond the box. I spent a lot of time on the final section, providing information to players and making it as unique as possible.”
Last summer, Real Madrid paid roughly £113 million for the player, including add-ons, with Birmingham City profiting by around £6 million from the sale.
When asked what made Bellingham unique, Sajjad explained, “His mentality is different. That was obvious even if you did not know him.
“How he would approach games as an under-16 playing in the under-21s, for example. I went to watch him in one of the games while it was pouring rain, and he was dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, ready to compete. You could tell he had talent, but he was also eager to compete and advance. That’s what distinguishes him from many other players.
