He has made just six starts for the black-and-yellow, and his Dortmund career hit an early nadir when he gifted Bayern Munich their second goal after coming off the bench in last month’s Der Klassiker, miscontrolling the ball in his own six-yard box. Michael Olise pounced to score what proved to be the winner.
In his four appearances since that nightmare cameo, though, Bellingham seems to have found his feet. BILD report Kovac and his coaching staff have held regular one-on-one meetings with Bellingham to monitor his progression, and the talks have had a clear effect.
Bellingham has responded well after gifting Bayern Munich a goal in Der Klassiker
Speaking after last weekend’s win over Augsburg, Kovac said he was pleased with Bellingham’s improvement.
"You could already see in the last game in Frankfurt what qualities he has," he said. "He's present, has good physicality and technical quality, which he also showed here in Augsburg in his 30 minutes on the pitch."
"I really have no doubts about him. On the contrary, I know what he can do.
“We're building him up gradually here - actually faster than I expected myself - because the boy really has a lot of quality."