Real Madrid's Bellingham offer 'infinitely inferior' to Man City's

Stuart Telford

• 5 Nov 2023 11:23 GMT
• 3 min read

Jude Bellingham's offers from Manchester City and Liverpool were in excess of anything Real Madrid tabled, but the midfielder's heart was set on a move to the Bernabeu.

Bellingham has hit the ground running since his €103 million transfer to Real from Borussia Dortmund in the summer, with his brace in the Clasico taking him to 13 goals from his first 13 games in all competitions.

But City and Liverpool had pulled out all the stops to sign him - Erling Haaland getting in his ear when the English champions met Dortmund in the Champions League and Liverpool reportedly ready to offer Bellingham's father and brother roles at Anfield.

READ: Man Utd wanted to sign Bellingham as a 'RESERVE PLAYER'

Quite aside from that, the Premier League giants tabled significant offers, in excess of Real's in purely financial terms, but los Blancos were able to win the day anyway.

Bellingham's Real deal

"Madrid carried out a theft with their transfer strategy," claim Marca. "Their offer was enormous but still infinitely inferior to what Manchester City, Liverpool or Manchester United had offered.

"Bellingham accepted Real offer, signing a six-year contract worth €20m gross per season, around €11m net - a salary that's not even the highest in the squad."

READ: What Bellingham must do to win the 2024 Ballon d'Or

Bellingham's income doesn't trail Madrid's top earners by much, but each of Toni Kroos, David Alaba, Luka Modric and Vinicius Junior take home more.

Bellingham is now valued at €132.5m by FootballTransfers' in-house algorithm, making him the third-most valuable player in the world behind Haaland and Paris Saint-Germain superstar Kylian Mbappe.

Madrid have been linked with a move for both in recent months, but given Bellingham's goal-glut, at this rate they won't need either.

There is little chance of Bellingham going the other way anytime soon. "This is the club I want to be at for the next 10 to 15 years of my life, he said of Madrid recently. "I am loving it there."