Newcastle among Premier League clubs ‘watching’ Sunderland star after being ‘rejected’ in 2023
Newcastle United are reportedly watching Sunderland youngster Jobe Bellingham after failing to land him from Birmingham City last year.
The younger brother of Jude Bellingham joined the Black Cats from Birmingham for £1.5million last July.
He was linked with a few Premier League clubs before making the move to the Stadium of Light, clearly valuing first-team football in the Championship over youth-team football for a top-flight side.
The decision has quickly paid off. Bellingham has already played 26 times for Sunderland, which is the same amount of appearances he made for the Blues, scoring four goals and making one assist.
Bellingham is preparing to face Newcastle in the FA Cup this weekend. Saturday’s game will be the first Tyne-Wear derby since 2016.
Interestingly, though, it has been reported that the Magpies tried to convince Bellingham to join before switching Birmingham for Sunderland.
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According to the Daily Mail, the 18-year-old’s team was eager to find a club that would offer first-team football and that was not guaranteed at St James’ Park.
Bellingham would have been added to the Geordies’ ‘under-age ranks’ had he joined, the report claims.
After missing out on the teenage forward, Newcastle’s interest has not gone away.
Eddie Howe is still keen and the club have ‘continued to watch’ Bellingham this term, although they are not the only Premier League club monitoring the youngster.
Bellingham has the opportunity to put Howe under even more pressure with Newcastle going through a woeful run of form.
The Magpies have been horrendous away from home, making a defeat at the Stadium of Light a real possibility.
When the Tyne-Wear derby was drawn for the third round of the FA Cup, Newcastle were still in the Champions League and seven points off the Premier League leaders.
Since then, they have lost five of their six Premier League encounters and crashed out of Europe.
Sunderland are currently sixth in the Championship, 15 points off the automatic promotion places.
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