Sunderland AFC: £12m Jobe Bellingham claim made as Borussia Dortmund lurk | OneFootball

The price that Sunderland would be willing to sell star teenager Jobe Bellingham for has been revealed, amid interest from German side Borussia Dortmund.

It's going to be a big summer at the Stadium of Light, with a new head coach to be appointed and the construction of an altered team than the one that finished 16th last season to be done too.

Sunderland are said to be considering a move for former Hull City manager Liam Rosenior. Former Mainz coach Bo Svensson, Sheffield Wednesday's Danny Röhl, former Stade Reims boss Will Still, and Bayern Munich under-19s coach Rene Maric have all been linked with the vacant role by other reports too.

The club are expected to be busy when it comes to on-the-pitch moves too. Free agent Ian Poveda, formerly of Leeds United and Sheffield Wednesday, is said to be a target of the Black Cats, and they are also reported to have had the 18-year-old former captain of RB Leipzig, Elias Lenz, training with the club, as per Bild.

There are lots of possibilities for departures as well as arrivals, with Sunderland's best youngsters all grabbing the attention of big clubs.

The Northern Echo believe 17-year-old Chris Rigg to be on the radar of Manchester United. Goalkeeper Anthony Patterson is supposedly a target of a soon-to-be former top flight side in Sheffield United, who are looking to find a new option to become their mainstay number one.

There's going to be a lot for sporting director Kristjaan Speakman to deal with over this summer period, and another one is keeping hold of another star youngster: Bellingham.

Sunderland's Jobe Bellingham asking price revealed

The Black Cats may have to sell players this summer in order to balance the books. Their last set of accounts showed a £9 million loss in the 2022/23 campaign. Football Insider understands that the club will need to sell one big asset in order to stay on the right side of the financial line.

That asset could be the 18-year-old.

Borussia Dortmund have reported interest in the midfielder, and Football Insider believe that Sunderland would want £12 million for him.

This would be a huge profit for the Black Cats, as they only paid Birmingham City £1.5 million for him last summer, as per Football Insider.

Sunderland selling Jobe Bellingham would be a big mistake

The model of the club is based around buying in top young talent for cheaper prices and then selling them on when they start to emerge as top players for inflated fees. They could certainly do that if they got the eight-figure fee that they would want for the midfielder, but it'd be the wrong time to do it.

If they allow him to follow in the footsteps of his brother by joining the German side, it would feel like Sunderland cashed out too early.

The potential was clear to see this season, and he was very impressive in spite of the number of games he was asked to play at such a young age, and his position was changing every couple of weeks.

From a natural central midfielder, all the way up to the striker position; he was never able to lock down a spot of his own in the starting XI.

Because of this, we don't know quite how good he could be. Once he settles into the one place that he's going to play on the pitch, we should see his full potential. That's a scary thought because he's already a very good player at this young of an age.