Real Madrid News
Bellingham will reject Dortmund’s €14 million contract offer to join Real Madrid – report
Over the past week or so, things have started to move in Real Madrid’s long-running pursuit of Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham.
The 19-year-old has been at the top of the summer shopping list for the reigning champions of Spain and Europe. And, it has been reported that the Englishman is close to agreeing personal terms with the Merengues, with a meeting between the two clubs to take place to finalise the deal.
Borussia Dortmund, though, have still been carrying a faint hope of keeping hold of Bellingham for at least one more year.
To that end, as per BILD, the Black and Yellows have offered the 19-year-old a significantly improved contract worth €14 million per year until 2026 in the hope that it might convince Bellingham to stay.
However, the former Birmingham City star will reject it in order to join Real Madrid, with the decision already understood to be made by him.
It is further claimed that Bellingham made the decision for himself and that Los Blancos are very confident of closing the deal in the coming weeks.
The report suggests that Dortmund cannot compete with the contract that Real Madrid will offer to him, which would be worth €20 million per year and would run until 2029.
Dortmund, for their part, remain hopeful of making €150 million from Bellingham’s sale, but it has been reported that Real Madrid might not offer such a steep amount and the deal could close for around €120-130 million, including add-ons.
The England star will likely wait until the Bundesliga is over to announce his decision. For now, he remains focused on the title race and would hope to bid goodbye to Signal Iduna Park with the championship in the bag.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s move to Saudi Arabia has triggered a wave of massive establishment within the country so much so that the league has approached players like Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets, Sergio Ramos and even Karim Benzema.
Benzema’s departure from Real Madrid is imminent and if a report from Diaro AS is to be believed, the Frenchman contacted his former Madrid teammate, Ronaldo, to ask him for information about the Saudi league, living conditions and other teams.
All this because it is said that the legendary Frenchman has received a lucrative offer from the newly crowned Saudi Pro League champions Al Ittihad. As reported before, the star striker will earn more than €100 million per year across his two-year contract with the Saudi team.
At the moment, the Saudi government has approved all of Benzema’s requests and while it is said that he can join the team of his choice, Al Ittihad’s recent flirting had made them absolute favourites.
That said, the transfer may have taken a u-turn recently, as Benzema spoke about staying at Real Madrid for the foreseeable future.
“Speak to the fans? Speak about what? Why should I speak of the future if I’m in Madrid?”, Benzema said.
“It’s the internet speaking, and reality is not the internet.”
In a recent turn of events, Helder Costa openly spoke about Benzema’s arrival, saying that his team is ‘excited about the arrival of the Balon d’Or winner.’ As if that is not enough, a club fan also showed a Karim Benzema edit on the big screen during their title celebrations.
Meanwhile, since the transfer is not confirmed, Real Madrid continue to be uninformed of Benzema’s decision. And this remains a major problem for the team from the capital city as their summer transfer plan hinges on the continuity of the Frenchman.
At the moment, the team is said to be closing in on the signing of Joselu from Espanyol. However, it must be noted that the forward will only be arriving on a season-long loan as Madrid already have big plans for the summer of 2024, with Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe both lined up.
