Borussia Dortmund’s ‘plan to keep Jude Bellingham includes 150% wage hike’ amid Liverpool interest

Borussia Dortmund are reportedly putting together a ‘secret plan’ to keep Jude Bellingham at the club with a 150 per cent wage increase in an attempt to fend off interest from Real Madrid, Liverpool and Man City.

England sensation Bellingham is set to be one of the most sought-after players this summer following his remarkable rise to the top and an impressive World Cup, and Dortmund are now pulling out the stops to persuade him to stay. 

Dortmund’s sporting director Sebastian Kehl is planning to invite the player and his father Mark into his office to offer him a deal that would see him remain at Signal Iduna Park for at least one more season, according to German outlet Bild.

The club are planning to tempt Bellingham with an offer of £13million a season – making him the highest-paid player in the history of the club, the report adds, but in return the 19-year-old would be given a release clause of £131million. 

That would allow Dortmund to rake in a big future fee and also hand clubs a perfect opportunity to snatch him up.

It would also mean the likes of Madrid, Liverpool and City would be dealt a huge blow and be forced to wait even longer to secure their prized asset.

The report adds that a summer departure for Bellingham is ‘much more likely’ with the top clubs in Europe set to ‘try everything’ to convince him to leave – claiming that Real Madrid remain the favourites to lure him away.

However, it goes on to say that a summer move to Los Blancos will largely depend on whether the club decide to offer Toni Kroos or Luka Modric a new deal. Both players see their deals expire at the end of the season. 

Should both players stay put at the Bernabeu, Dortmund’s chances of keeping Bellingham for another season would ‘increase’, with their ‘secret plan’ possibly coming into play. 

Bellingham – who has nine goals and five assists for Dortmund in all competitions this season – started in both of England’s games during the international break. He played 85 minutes in their 2-1 win over Italy and 86 minutes in the 2-0 victory over Ukraine on Sunday.

After the latter game, Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard was full of praise for the player and said he was ‘further along’ than he was at the same age. 

‘Well, for one he has a better body at 19,’ Gerrard joked while Bellingham stood next to him on the touchline. 

‘I never had that power until 22 or 23, he’s more physically developed. He’s more confident on the ball. I’m not just being modest. He’s further on than where I was at the same age. 

‘He’s in a fantastic place and he needs to keep playing well.’ 

Bellingham told Gerrard he had modelled his game on him as a child, saying: ‘The things Stevie could do, the way he could carry a team – I’ve said it multiple times, I follow your game.

‘I think there is so much I have got to learn. The way I want to be is win the game at both ends, as a 6, 8 and 10. I want to create chances and do a bit of everything. 

‘You have the best chance with the guys in that (England) changing room, I am like a sponge at the moment.’

He has been strongly tipped to follow in Gerrard’s footsteps by joining Liverpool this summer, but after Madrid ripped them to shreds in a 6-2 aggregate defeat in the Champions League knockouts earlier this month, pundit Rio Ferdinand said it may have swayed him to move to the Bernabeu.

He told the BT Sport studio: ‘I just think, if he watches that tonight, he’s sitting there thinking: “If Real Madrid are in for me and Liverpool, there’s only one place I can go” – and they [Liverpool] don’t finish in the Champions League as well maybe.

‘As a player – nothing to do with my allegiances to United or Liverpool – you look at it cold and you go: “I see more trophies here [at Madrid]”.’