Sunderland and England U21 star [Jobe Bellingham is reportedly](https://www.footballinsider247.com/chelsea-in-pole-position-to-sign-jobe-bellingham-sources/) one of the targets for the Blues in the upcoming transfer window. The club reportedly reached out to the Sunderland youngster earlier this week with an eye for bringing him in over the summer.
While Chelsea are no strangers to investing in young talent, they should be more selective in assessing their options, as the squad remains quite bloated. Bellingham is certainly not the only player they will be considering.
However, Chelsea are not the only Premier League club interested in the young midfielder. Arsenal, Tottenham, Crystal Palace, and Manchester United are all reportedly in the race.
Bellingham has expressed interest in moving abroad, possibly hoping to follow a similar path to his brother, who plays for Real Madrid. He has also gained interests from Bundesliga’s Bayern Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund.
Meanwhile, Sunderland, though having a contract with Jobe which runs until 2028, has agreed to accept offers for the youngster if they fail for a promotion at the end of the season. This will also give them plenty of time to maximize their leverage in any potential deal. As of latest reports, Sunderland are hoping to get £20M out of the deal.
With this in mind, I believe Chelsea should reconsider their priorities, as this is certainly not a necessity for the club. The team experienced some ups and downs, particularly during the injury crisis in January.
However, investing in players who are guaranteed regular game time would be a wiser approach, which should really go without saying rather than reverting to their old habit of overcrowding the squad and eventually offloading players for a lot lesser than what they were brought in for.
In Bellingham's case, it is unlikely that he would want to settle for the junior squad while waiting for a chance at the first team, especially if he is in talks with German teams that could offer him that opportunity much sooner.