Home » He might have a bit of me in him: Bryan Robson on Jude Bellingham

He might have a bit of me in him: Bryan Robson on Jude Bellingham

United legend still laments over the club missing out on Dortmund star

by Ayantan Chowdhury

Manchester United are currently enjoying a four-match winning run in the Premier League and a large part of the success the team are enjoying at the moment is due to the players manager Erik ten Hag brought in.

Defenders Tyrell Malacia and Lisandro Martinez are the first names on the team sheet while the versatile Christian Eriksen has surprised one and all.

Antony has already begun to establish himself on the right wing while Casemiro is slowly but surely building towards something special in the middle of the park.

Ten Hag’s insistence on buying only right kind of players have borne fruit but he did end up missing out on his primary midfield target Frenkie de Jong.

Utd were close to landing Bellingham

Whether the Dutch boss opts to move again for his compatriot or whether United join the queue for one of the most highly-rated youngsters in Jude Bellingham remains to be seen.

Interestingly, the Borussia Dortmund star was very close to joining the Red Devils back when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was boss.

United had prepared quite the welcoming party in a bid to entice the young midfielder which included Sir Alex Ferguson, Eric Cantona and Bryan Robson.

The trio had shown the player and his parents around Carrington. And as Robson recently confirmed to The Sun, United had thought they had done enough to clinch the deal.

“Myself, Sir Alex and Eric Cantona all met him with his mum and dad at Carrington and after that meeting we thought he was coming to us. Unfortunately for us he decided to move to Germany,” the former United legend revealed.

Rumours have already begun circling regarding Bellingham potentially being available next summer. And the United ambassador has already mentioned the danger of the former Birmingham youngster choosing to sign for one of their rivals.

England’s WC chances depend on Bellingham

“You can see why he has become such a big target in the market because he is such a big talent. Now there is talk about him moving next summer and you see Liverpool mentioned a lot,” the 65-year-old mentioned.

The Dortmund star’s burgeoning reputation is only going to increase with the World Cup just around the corner. And Robson feels there is a bit of him in the young prodigy.

“I definitely think he might have a bit of me in him. It’s all very well flying forward and trying to score but it’s also about protecting your back four. That was something I always believed that you had to do as a midfielder.

“I watched him closely playing against City and you could see how much he’s progressed. He has fantastic anticipation — as we saw in the way he darted into the box to put away his header. But he wins plenty of battles as well. And if he keeps performing like he did against City he will be a big part of England’s World Cup bid,” Robson added.

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