Leicester City were in the race to sign current Real Madrid and England talisman Jude Bellingham in the summer of 2020.
Leicester City were fresh off the back of an impressive season in which they finished fifth in the Premier League and equalled the highest ever win in the division beating Southampton 9-0 at St Mary’s.
Brendan Rodgers was the man in charge, with the likes of Youri Tielemans, James Maddision and club legend Jamie Vardy causing opposition defences nightmares on a weekly basis.
Things would get even better, too, as the Foxes went on to win the FA Cup in 2021 for the first time in their history.
However, they will still rue the fact they narrowly missed out on signing the player who currently holds the highest value in world football in England and Real Madrid’s 21-year-old sensation Jude Bellingham.
Leicester City ‘made an offer’ for Jude Bellingham in 2020
Bellingham broke through at Birmingham City aged just 16, playing a remarkable 41 Championship games in the 2019/20 season despite being so young.
It was very quickly clear that the prodigy would not be at Birmingham for long and so it proved with a move to German giants Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2020.
However, Leicester were very much in the race for the recent Champions League and La Liga winner’s signature.
This is according to the Birmingham CEO at the time Dong Ren, who confirmed to Spanish publication Mundo Deportivo in 2022: “Manchester United made the biggest offer we received [for Bellingham] compared to Bayern, Dortmund, Leicester or other clubs like Wolves.”
Whilst the offers of United and Bayern were the biggest, this was not the deciding factor in Bellingham’s decision which suggests Leicester stood a real chance of signing the England star.
On the teenager’s decision-making process, Dong Ren said: “Ed Woodward [then United CEO] was the most insistent. We sat down and talked about how we could convince Bellingham. But Jude didn’t make any decisions based on money.
“They offered much more salary compared to the rest. Maybe double. He was going to have guaranteed millions in the bank and he did not take them. That’s not normal for a player at all.”
“He chose Dortmund over Bayern despite not being sure to win titles and money. He put all that behind his development.”
Bellingham now worth £237m after Leicester snub
For a club fresh off the back of a fifth place finish in the Premier League, the £25 million Dortmund paid to sign Bellingham was well within Leicester’s budget.
However, the then-16-year-old chose Germany and it proved an inspired decision as few can argue with the development the midfielder underwent at Dortmund before moving to Real Madrid last summer for £88.5 million.
Leicester will of course rue missing out on Bellingham for his footballing talents, but the club’s current financial position really makes it a bitter pill to swallow.
The Foxes have an ongoing appeal against breaking Premier League spending rules historically whilst simultaneously facing the prospect of having to sell their best player in Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall this summer to avoid another breach.
Given that according to the CIES Football Observatory’s statistical model, Bellingham is currently the most valuable player in world football at a whopping £237 million, it is difficult for Leicester fans not to wonder what might have been.
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