A former Chelsea scout has claimed that the club tried to sign Jude Bellingham during his time at Birmingham City.

The midfielder has enjoyed a remarkable rise over the past few years since leaving Birmingham for Borrusia Dortmund in 2020. The young star scored 24 goals and provided 25 assists across all competitions for the Bundesliga club.

Bellingham's performances in Germany saw him earn a move to Spanish giants Real Madrid last summer where his game has excelled further. The England international's 21 goals and 10 assists have played a key role in Real's La Liga and Champions League trophy bids this season.

And former Blues scout Yousuf Sajjad has claimed that extensive work was done on scouting Bellingham when he was playing in the Championship at St Andrew's. Manchester United were also heavily linked before the player moved to Dortmund.

"We went for the real big players. We had a good scouting team that worked very diligently," he told the Rising Ballers podcast.

"The most work I've ever done on a player was Jude Bellingham. We had reports on him from under-12 to under-16. We had 62 reports from 25 different scouts.

"When we got to a point where we wanted to sign him, so did every top club in the country, it was about presenting something different. We tried to create trends on what's remained the same for him as a player. Pick up what he has developed and what he needs to develop.

"We attached that with footage and had a long video of him playing as an under-12, 13, 14, all the way up, highlighting those traits. At the end we'd put him on a FIFA reel with a Chelsea kit, trying to think outside the box. I spent a lot of time on the end part, presenting the information to players and making it as unique as possible."

Sajjad also heaped praise on Bellingham's mentality, revealing how the midfielder continued playing through the pouring rain at a young age whilst being ready to compete. He added: "His mentality is different. Without even knowing him you could see that.

"The way he would approach games as an under-16 playing in under-21s for example. I went to watch him in one of the games when it was pouring with rain, he was in his shorts and t-shirt ready to compete. You could see he had quality but was also there to compete and progress. That's what would separate him from a lot of players."