Jobe Bellingham told 'right moment to leave' Sunderland amid talk of £20m transfer seeing him emulate brother Jude with Borussia Dortmund switch

Back in 2020, after making a senior breakthrough with Birmingham at just 16 years of age, Jude Bellingham took the brave decision to leave English football and head to Germany. That call has paid off, with the 21-year-old midfielder now a Champions League winner at Real Madrid and a Ballon d’Or contender.

It is being suggested that Jobe could soon head down a similar path, with the 19-year-old – who also started out at St Andrew’s – attracting admiring glances from afar. Sunderland are reluctant to part with a prized asset and are said to have placed a £20 million ($25m) price tag around Bellingham’s neck.

They accept that sales may need to be sanctioned at some point, with Chris Rigg another of those to be generating exit talk, but Black Cats boss Regis Le Bris has mapped out future plans when saying: “I think with these players, they are involved in the project, and they know that they can improve in this team. So, from a personal perspective, it is good for them, and also to be part of this journey as well.

“It is rare to have this. Sometimes, you can go a whole career without having these elements – where you are in a club, you like that club, you are improving, and you believe in a very interesting journey. I think it is important for them to be here until the challenge is not high enough for them. Probably, when they feel that they need something more to develop, that should be the right moment to leave.

“But at the minute, for both players, I think they are still in the right zone for their career development. They need to play, and they need to learn. They need to learn about playing in a collective style, so for them, I think the culture we have here is still working for them. I think the graph of their learning is still going up at a good level.”

Sunderland have Bellingham tied to a contract through to the summer of 2028, so are under no pressure to sell unless they receive an offer that is impossible to turn down. The likes of Dortmund will, however, continue to monitor his progress on Wearside having already unearthed considerable value in Jude.