Why Dortmund scout Dodds is key to Bellingham connectionpublished at 09:05 British Summer Time
Simon Stone
BBC Sport chief football news reporter
Image source, Getty ImagesIt is thought Jobe Bellingham is keen to follow in his older brother Jude’s footsteps.
Jude, 21, who is two years Jobe’s senior, also came through Birmingham City’s academy before moving to Dortmund in 2020 and then Real Madrid in 2023.
Bellingham is already mirroring his brother’s career with the move to Dortmund and he was also named the Championship’s Young Player of the Year in May, five years after Jude won the same award.
Another connection between brothers may have helped facilitate Bellingham’s move to Dortmund.
The German club’s UK scout is Daniel Dodds, brother of Wycombe Wanderers boss Mike, who worked with the Bellinghams in the Birmingham academy.
Mike Dodds was also part of the coaching staff at Sunderland when Jobe Bellingham made the move from St Andrew’s to the Stadium of Light.
“I think he can go to the very top,” he told the Northern Echo in 2023., external
“Both brothers have a very similar mindset in terms of their relentlessness in their pursuit of where they want to get to.”