JUDE BELLINGHAM is considered the jewel in the crown of English football - the teenage midfielder just waiting to take a huge step forward this summer.
Arguably England’s best performer at the World Cup last year, he arrived back on home soil with a mushrooming reputation to go with the steadily inflating price tag.
At Stamford Bridge, where Chelsea beat Dortmund 2-1 to advance to the last-eight of the Champions League, he came up against Enzo Fernandez, the most expensive player in British history.
But the smart money is on Bellingham leaving Borussia Dortmund this summer for more than the £106 million Chelsea paid for their Argentinian - who was officially anointed best young player in Qatar on his way to becoming a world champion at 21.
There are two years between Ferandez and Bellingham. By the time the former Birmingham City trainee gets the key to the door there is every reason to expect he will be playing at a far higher level than a Chelsea team under shaky construction.
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There were even unsubstantiated pre-match reports that Bellingham’s dad was meeting with officials from Real Madrid just a few hundred metres from the stadium, allegedly teeing up his departure to the current European champions.
Nevertheless, Chelsea chairman Todd Boehly was watching closely from the stands and no doubt sizing up whether or not his club should make a play for Bellingham at the end of the season. There is definite interest from the new people upstairs.
Sod’s law dictated that the young man paying a flying visit back “home” to England to showcase his skills would have a quiet night. He was sub-Jude.
It was much the same last month when the majestic Signal Iduna Park hosted their Premier League visitors in the first leg. All he got that night was booked.
Bellingham was unable to get the ball onto his toes and drive at the Chelsea defence in the return.
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There was an uncharacteristic disconnect between the midfield and the attackers in a German side on a ten game winning streak.
Waiting to provide the link up to his strikers was a frustrating game for England’s hottest young player. At one point in the first half he was left stranded up front.
A loner who could do nothing with a long ball pumped forward except head the ball aimlessly into space then look around for his non-existent mates and hold his hands up in despair.
In the 58th minute he was presented with a chance to score. And with the sizeable target of Kalidou Koulibaly in his way could only scuff a shot from six yards wide of the post.
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In Bellingham’s defence, this game largely bypassed the midfield.
It was 100mph stuff engaging the strikers, mainly in blue, as quickly as possible. Fernandez hardly set the world alight too.
