Let's hope Jude Bellingham is the last one off Dortmund's conveyor belt of young superstars
The Bundesliga club have been producing superstars for Europe's biggest clubs for the last 10 years with little sporting success to show for it.
Like most important news at the Westfalenstadion, Jude Bellingham’s imminent departure from Borussia Dortmund was confirmed through a straightforward statement from the club to the stock market. No emotional social media video to tug at the heartstrings, no message from Edin Terzic or the player to explain the decision. Just a 300-word note from the legal team to confirm to the stock exchange where the club is listed that Real Madrid would be paying for the player and how that will likely impact Dortmund’s profit and loss margins for the following financial year.
This, of course, is a legal requirement due to Dortmund being a public company. But while it was certainly necessary, it also felt rather fitting. The club was once again selling another star player to the highest bidder. This wasn’t football. It needed no emotions. It was simply business. And the Bundesliga side have gotten very good at the business of selling players.
Should Bellingham be a success in the Spanish capital, the transfer fee Madrid will end up paying Dortmund could reach as high as €133 million. Which would make the England international the most valuable sale in the club’s history. Upon publication of the statement confirming the news, Dortmund saw a notable 3.7% jump in their stock price for the day. Although, it remains 26% below where it stood on the eve of the concluding matchday of the Bundesliga season.
In total, Dortmund have now made around €1.08 billion from selling players since Jürgen Klopp stepped down as head coach in 2015. In that period, no club in Europe has made more money from transfer fees, with Bellingham’s fee pushing the German club level with Benfica and above the likes of Monaco and Juventus. When we take into account their spending on transfer fees in the same period, it offers a plump profit for the club of around €246m.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Gegenpressing Newsletter to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.