What Jude Bellingham has said about returning to Birmingham City one day | OneFootball

FLW takes a look at what the former Blues academy star has said about going back to the West Midlands

Football League World takes a look at what Jude Bellingham has said about returning to Birmingham City one day, more than five years after leaving the club.

This comes after Blues' chairman,Tom Wagner, revealed that his dream is to have the former academy prospect back at the club when their proposed new 62k capacity Stadium opens in 2030.

During the West Midlands club’s stadium unveiling on November 20th, Bellingham was invited to view the designs for the first time as part of the promotional video.

With Birmingham on the rise and headed towards the Premier League in the not-too-distant future, it has got supporters talking about if - and when - Bellingham could ever make a sensational return back to where it all started for the Real Madrid superstar.

His immediate reaction was one of genuine astonishment, exclaiming "wow" and "so when's it going to be ready?" as the full scope of the ambitious project was revealed to him.

Even if he was playing up to the cameras a little bit, the Real Madrid star was obviously visibly impressed by the design - which will feature twelve chimneys surrounding the ground.

While Bellingham himself has not explicitly confirmed his intentions to return to Blues, as mentioned earlier, Wagner has been considerably more frank in expressing his ambition.

"I think Jude is the greatest player on the planet today, and I think his potential is not even close," Wagner said to The Independent at the stadium unveiling event.

"If we can provide him a platform to achieve his full potential, well then that's a great story. It's a great coming home story, it's a great Birmingham story. It's a great England story," the American added.

The new stadium, part of a £2.4b Sports Quarter development in Bordesley Park, is being designed to compete with the most modern venues globally and attract world-class events including NFL games, major concerts, and international fixtures.

The timing of a potential Birmingham City return for Jude Bellingham

While a return to Birmingham remains speculative, the timing of the stadium's completion does present an intriguing coincidence.

Bellingham will be 27 years old when the Stadium opens - potentially in the prime years of his career, and his Madrid contract runs until the summer of 2029. That still may be so soon, but it hasn't stopped some bluenoses from dreaming.

He, of course, joined the club's academy as a youngster and made his senior debut at just 15 years old before departing for Borussia Dortmund in 2020 for a reported £25m.

The 22-year-old has since shown consistent affection for his boyhood club now he's in Spain, and his willingness to participate in the stadium unveiling video shows his connection remains very strong.

And at least Wagner appears to be building towards such a scenario of a return. If the club achieves the owner's objective of Premier League football by next year - and continues on an upward trajectory - the narrative of bringing Jude back will surely get bigger each passing season.