Frank Lampard reveals why Chelsea turned down Jude Bellingham transfer amid £391m regret

Former Chelsea manager Frank Lampard has claimed that he wanted to sign Real Madrid and England superstar Jude Bellingham in his first stint in charge at Stamford Bridge.

Bellingham, still only 20, is currently one of the most-valued footballers in world football after his sensational start to life at Real Madrid. The midfielder joined Los Blancos in the summer for around £88.5million and has scored 13 goals in 14 appearances.

The England international has been in-demand ever since breaking into the Birmingham City first team at the age of 16. Back in 2020, the world’s biggest clubs queued up to sign Bellingham before Borussia Dortmund acquired his services.

Manchester United were one of the teams with strong interest and Bellingham was even given a tour of their facilities. However, a move to Germany proved to be the right one for the midfielder, with him making over 130 appearances for Dortmund.

However, it could have been so different had Chelsea listened to Lampard’s advice. The Blues weren’t one of the teams who publicly registered an interest, but Lampard has revealed he identified the impressive star as a target at Cobham.

Speaking to the Obi One Podcast, Lampard said: “When I was managing at Chelsea I was desperate to bring Jude Bellingham in. But I couldn’t get it through upstairs – the idea of paying £20million for someone his age [at the time]…”

It’s not the first time that Lampard has gone on record to reveal a huge transfer regret at Chelsea. Last season, the ex-Blues midfielder claimed that he wanted to bring Erling Haaland to Stamford Bridge when he was at Red Bull Salzburg.

Speaking during his time at Everton, he said: “He is an amazing player and the ultimate top level players generally can do what he does in a top level league. I coached against him in a pre-season game when he was playing for Salzburg. I tried to sign him for Chelsea and it was not to be.”

What could have been at Chelsea? Fast forward to now and Bellingham is valued by CIES Football Observatory at €200million (£173.9million) while Haaland is the joint-most valued player, alongside Vinicius Junior, at €250million (£217.4million).