---
title: "Sunderland: Black Cats court Jobe Bellingham"
canonical: "https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/sunderland-transfer-news-black-cats-court-jobe-bellingham-jude-bellingham/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "David Comerford"
section: "Sunderland News"
published: "2022-05-10T16:40:58Z"
modified: "2022-05-10T16:40:58Z"
---

# Sunderland: Black Cats court Jobe Bellingham

**Sunderland are interested in Birmingham City starlet Jobe Bellingham, the younger brother of Borussia Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham.**

### The lowdown

The younger Bellingham still plays for Birmingham City, where his sibling made also made his breakthrough. Dortmund agreed a fee [that could rise beyond £30million](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/53471811) to recruit Jude from St Andrew’s, and the Blues even [retired the player’s number 22 shirt](https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/jude-bellingham-birmingham-city-dortmund-20776728#:~:text=Birmingham%20City%20decided%20to%20retire,regular%20starter%20within%20the%20team.).

Jobe, 16, made his Championship debut against Preston in January [and also played](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/jobe-bellingham/leistungsdaten/spieler/796297) the final half-hour on the last day of the season against Blackburn Rovers.

An attacking midfielder who can also play out wide, he too has been [linked with Dortmund](https://www.teamtalk.com/news/dortmund-hope-signing-jobe-bellingham-convince-jude-stay).

\[freshpress-quiz id=”350925″\]

### The latest

The Daily Mail’s Craig Hope [broke the transfer news on Monday](https://twitter.com/CraigHope_DM/status/1523585737190297601) as Sunderland ‘explore \[an\] ambitious move’ for Bellingham.

They apparently ‘invited’ the player and his family to the Stadium of Light for a ‘recent home game’.

[Hope stresses](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-10795585/Sunderland-plotting-ambitious-sign-Birmingham-starlet-Jobe-Bellingham.html) that Sunderland will win have to win promotion to the Championship for the deal to be viable.

### The verdict

Bellingham’s first-team chances have been limited, but he’s underlined his potential at youth level.

He’s scored five goals in nine matches in the Under-18 Premier League, and that’s helped to earn him 13 appearances at Under-23 level, as well as eight caps for England’s U17s. (via [Transfermarkt](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/jobe-bellingham/leistungsdaten/spieler/796297)).

Tellingly, he’s [already valued at £450,000](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/jobe-bellingham/profil/spieler/796297) even though he’s still so young and has barely featured at the senior level.

Can Sunderland compete if top clubs like Dortmund are sniffing around too? Well, they may have a key advantage.

As Hope points out, sporting director Kristjaan Speakman was previously the academy director at Birmingham and enjoys a close relationship with the player’s parents – Mark and Denise Bellingham – given the role he played in Jude’s development.

Sunderland hope that this connection will be key.

**In other news, [The Black Cats risk losing this key figure](https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/sunderland-afc-news/rangers-transfer-news-ross-stewart-league-one/).**