Borussia Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke has detailed how he played the role of ‘secret negotiator’ to secure Jobe Bellingham from Sunderland.
[SportBILD have an interview](https://sportbild.bild.de/) with the Dortmund chief today in which he explains his secret role in securing the younger Bellingham for the German club.
The 19-year-old joined Dortmund in a €30.5m deal at the beginning of this month after weeks of transfer speculation.
He had been linked with clubs all over Europe after impressing at Sunderland again last season and playing a key role in their return to the Premier League.
Dortmund worked hard to ensure it was they who won the race for his signature and got the next Bellingham to the club after their success with his older brother Jude.
That involved using their strong relationship with the Bellingham family to their advantage and secret trips to England to negotiate with the various parties to convince the midfielder of the move.
Watzke was a part of that, having built up a strong relationship with the Bellingham family personally, and has now detailed his role as ‘secret negotiator’ this summer.
_“This is exactly how I envisioned my role when I handed over my sporting responsibility,”_ he said.
_“I can serve the club when they feel it’s necessary. At that moment, it was brought to my attention that it would be good if I spoke to Jobe. I’ve known the family for a long time and him since he was a little boy._
_“It was quite special. Sunderland had just been promoted, and when we arrived at the team hotel, there were a lot of fans standing in front of the entrance. I had the impression that my fans had slept very little and drunk a lot. I simply didn’t want to be recognised, so I did that (wore sunglasses and a hat as a disguise.)_
_“We talked about what the right path was for him. He was perhaps worried about being compared too much to his brother. I told him that you have to take the right path yourself, regardless of who has taken it before._
_“That was the core of a very long and very trusting conversation. Jobe said afterwards that the words had worked. That was a blessing. I was very happy.”_