JUDE BELLINGHAM will seal a transfer to Manchester City over any of their rivals, according to Rio Ferdinand.
The former Manchester United and England defender revealed he believed Bellingham would make the switch to the blue half of Manchester in the summer.
His criteria for this consisted of three key reasons – those being Pep Guardiola’s new deal, the appeal of being the player to win the Champions League for them and his mates already at the club.
Speaking on FIVE, he said: “Pep Guardiola’s signed a new deal, if they don’t win the Champions League this year, he goes there with a mindset, ‘I am going to be the man that brings you the Champions League.’
“That’s how I think he’s moving, that’s how I think he rolls.
“I think he will (go to City), I think he’ll say he’s got a couple of mates there, England boys, ‘I can go to (Real) Madrid in five years’.
READ MORE ON FOOTBALL
“I think he thinks, ‘listen man, I’m a superstar, I want to go win the league and the Premier League because I’m an English-born boy and then I’ll go Madrid and do the same there in a couple of years’.
“The mad thing is he’s got the chance, the great thing is he has the absolute choice and pick of what he does. There will be clubs queuing up.”
Bellingham is busy being wooed by a number of interested parties while in Qatar – with Liverpool reportedly taking the lead in the race to sign the 19-year-old.
The former Birmingham City star has struck up a friendship with Jordan Henderson and was pictured on a stroll alongside Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold while in Qatar.
Most read in Football
HOW TO GET FREE BETS ON THE WORLD CUP
A fan confronted Bellingham while he was alongside Henderson and Alexander-Arnold and told him to sign for Real Madrid instead to help him win the Ballon d’Or.
Gary Neville also picked up on the way they were cosying up to the Borussia Dortmund star.
He said: “The whole thing unnerves me!
“When I was in the camp sort of 15 years ago, I used to sort of get close to (Wayne) Rooney, close to Rio Ferdinand. All those players you thought you could just grab.
“Now you see Phil Foden next to Jude Bellingham, you see Trent Alexander-Arnold going for a walk with him, you see Jordan Henderson cuddling up to him at the end of the game.
“And you think ‘you sneaky little sods, I know what you’re trying to do you lot’.”
But first of all Bellingham has his sights set on helping England beat France to get into the semi-finals of the World Cup.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
