Jobe Bellingham and Wolves ‘generational talent’ told European giants will belong to them

Jobe Bellingham has been told that he’s one of three young players who the future of Borussia Dortmund’s team will belong to.

The 20-year-old was back home for his side’s Champions League defeat to Tottenham, arriving in vastly different circumstances than his last such visit.

Getty

In November, the younger brother of Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham played just 23 minutes in a 4-1 defeat to Manchester City.

He had yet to complete a full match for Dortmund, and his manager Niko Kovac claimed the teenager wasn’t ‘doing himself any favours’.

Off-field struggles were part of that, with Jobe’s father, Mark, holding a heated discussion with BVB’s sporting director, Sebastien Kehl, in a 3-3 draw with St Pauli, on the opening day of the season.

The ex-Sunderland star capped a tough end to 2025 by being sent off in a 1-1 draw with Freiburg and was linked with a loan move away.

However, Dortmund underlined their faith in Jobe by selling Pascal Gross to Brighton and refusing to pursue a replacement this month.

The England Under-21 international responded by playing the full match as Kovac’s men beat St Pauli 3-2 on Saturday, having been hooked at half-time in the reverse fixture.

“Kovac has always shown faith in him,” European football expert Andy Brassell told talkSPORT.com.

“When you look at Niko Kovac and what he wants from players, Pascal Gross is not his cup of tea, and Jobe is very much his cup of tea.

“Someone who’s young, athletic, when he’s already run a more than reasonable amount, and is asked him to run some more, he’ll do it.”

The prime example of this came in Jobe’s return from suspension in a 3-0 win over Werder Bremen, in which he assisted Serhou Guirassy for his first Bundesliga goal since October.

AFP

Getty

Brassell added: “It’s Jobe Bellingham who presses up, robs one of their defenders and sets up the goal for Serhou Guirassy to finally get past that Bundesliga goal drought.

“I looked at that, and I thought, that is exactly why they’re all-in on him, and that is exactly the direction that this Dortmund are going.”

While Jobe set up Guirassy, it might be the man who has displaced him in attack that will be another key figure in Dortmund’s future.

Fabio Silva was hailed as a ‘generational talent’ upon his arrival as an 18-year-old at Wolves for a then-club record £35million in 2020.

The Portuguese, now 23, managed just four Premier League goals in his five-year stint at Molineux, all of which came in his debut season.

Having been loaned to Anderlecht, PSV Eindhoven, Rangers and Las Palmas, Silva found a permanent home in Dortmund in August.

Getty

Fabio Silva stats at Borussia Dortmund

The former Porto starlet is yet to open his Bundesliga account, but has registered four assists  – one shy of club leader, Julian Ryerson.

Silva has also now created 11 chances in his 303 top-flight minutes, the same amount as Guirassy, who has played 1299 minutes.

Brassell added: “He’s very good, even if he’s not scoring, he gets through an incredible shift of running and set up Karim Adeyemi at the weekend.

“I think the fact that Guirassy is an incredible penalty box player, but it feels at this point that Silva gives you more in the game in general.

AFP

“Kovac is a guy who doesn’t really care how much players cost.

“He’s going to pick the team that he thinks is going to win the game, and the guys who he thinks are going to run for him the most.

“And trust me, the sort of football he wants to play, Jobe Bellingham will play plenty. Fabio Silva will play plenty as well.

“These old guys are gradually going to get squeezed out…so going forward, even if it’s not this season, this team is going to belong to Fabio Silva and Jobe Bellingham in a year’s time.

“For me, there’s absolutely no doubt about that.

“They hope it will be a team that belongs to Nico Schlotterbeck as well, although whether they get him to stay is another question.

“But they’re definitely moving in a certain direction, and it’s away from the older guys.”