17 March 2023 , 08:58
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Manchester City fans got excited to see their star man Jack Grealish pleading with Jude Bellingham to join him at the Etihad Stadium.
Borussia Dortmund star Bellingham, 19, has been linked with a move away from Signal Iduna Park this summer. Liverpool, Manchester United and Real Madrid have all been mentioned as potential destinations, but a number of his England team-mates are already on City's books.
Premier League title challengers City already added one England international to their ranks last summer, tempting Kalvin Phillips away from Leeds United. However, with Phillips struggling for minutes this season, manager Pep Guardiola may look to strengthen further, and Grealish has made clear what he wants to see happen.
Grealish's plea was spotted in the comments section of an Instagram post from his team-mate Manuel Akanji. After Akanji's former Dortmund colleague Bellingham commented to say the centre-back has "changed", Grealish replied '@judebellingham come to city xx'.
Supporters seemed to agree with the sentiment. "Need that Borussia legacy replacement after Gundo [Ilkay Gundogan] leaves. Sky blue would suit you Jude," wrote one.
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There was plenty of praise for Grealish's efforts, too. '@jackgrealish I see what you did there,' wrote one, while others called the former Aston Villa man 'agent Jack' and one even went with the rather presumptions '@judebellingham welcome to City'.
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Jack Grealish's comment was spotted on team-mate Manuel Akanji's Instagram post (Instagram/obafemi.5)Grealish and Bellingham were both part of Gareth Southgate's squad for Euro 2020 and the 2022 World Cup, where they both scored their first major tournament goal in a win over Iran. The pair have also been named in the squad for the upcoming Euro 2024 qualifiers against Italy and Ukraine.
Southgate has also included Grealish's City team-mate Kyle Walker, despite the defender being probed by police for alleged off-field matters. After announcing his full squad, which had no room for former City star Raheem Sterling, the England boss explained his reasoning.
"It's a complicated situation, I've spoken at length with him. He is back playing with his club, there's no conclusive evidence to leave him out at this stage,” Southgate said. "I have to be very careful on being the moral judge on things. We feel we want him with us, we feel it's the right thing to do.
"When you are an England international there is an even higher bar on how you conduct yourself. I don't think we are taking those decisions lightly.
“I don’t want to go too much into hypotheticals but as we sit here today there was no conclusive reason not to select him in the squad. If that changes then we’ve got to review the situation. And he would understand that as well, but at the moment we are where we are.”