Man Utd will regret £30m Birmingham City transfer miss forever.

Manchester United bid £30 million for Jude Bellingham in the January 2020 transfer window, but he ended up joining Borussia Dortmund six months later. Manchester United may have many regrets as they reflect on their worst League season since being demoted in 1974, but few will be larger than missing out on this specific player. Bellingham was just 16 years old when some of Europe’s major clubs approached Birmingham City about signing him. It was immediately evident that this was a very rare skill.

He made his Birmingham first team debut in August 2019 for a Carabao Cup match against Portsmouth, aged 16 years and 38 days, after signing a scholar deal with the club that summer. Because of his age, he was still only earning £145 per week when all of this happened.

United faced strong competition for Bellingham’s signature from the outset

By the following January, Bellingham had made 25 appearances for the Blues, and bigger clubs were beginning to take notice after excellent evaluations of his debut half-season in the professional game. Manchester United, however, was the first to make a deal for the dynamic teenager, offering £30 million. According to The Sun at the time, Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal, Bayern Munich, and Borussia Dortmund were among the clubs interested in signing him. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had been United’s manager for just over a year at the time, and he wanted to refocus the club on developing more homegrown players. Bellingham met the criteria, and his versatility as a player further increased the attractiveness of bringing him to Old Trafford.

But the bid was rejected, and that decision is one that United have been able to regret at leisure in the years since.

Bellingham’s decision has subsequently been vindicated

That July, Bellingham left Birmingham, but not for Old Trafford. In July 2020, he joined for Borussia Dortmund for £25 million with a significant add-on deal. Subsequent developments have fully validated his decision. By this stage, Dortmund’s reputation for developing and upgrading young players had already preceded them, and Manchester United can hardly claim the same.

He won the DFB-Pokal in his first season in Germany and went on to make 92 Bundesliga appearances for the club over the next three seasons before joining Real Madrid in 2023 for a €103 million transfer fee, which could rise by 30% to around €134 million due to add-ons. By the end of his first season at the Bernabeu, he had won La Liga and the Champions League, as well as being named La Liga Player of the Year.

However, while Bellingham’s career has flourished since leaving Birmingham, Manchester United has struggled. They are currently on track for their worst League season in more than 50 years, a situation that could have been significantly different if they had been able to get Bellingham to Old Trafford in January 2020.