Michael Owen discusses Jude Bellingham future amid Real Madrid & Liverpool interest

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Michael Owen discusses Jude Bellingham future amid Real Madrid & Liverpool interest

Michael Owen believes there is "no right or wrong decision" for Jude Bellingham to make regarding his long-term future due to the calibre of clubs interested in signing him this summer.

The UEFA Champions League ambassador Owen's former clubs Real Madrid and Liverpool are understood by 90min to be at the head of the queue to sign the England international, alongside Premier League champions Manchester City. Current club Borussia Dortmund would like him to sign a new deal and stay for another season.

Bellingham is close to making a decision on his next move and 90min has learned Dortmund are expecting to hold talks or learn of the player's decision within the next two weeks. They will be willing to sell the player at the right price if Bellingham's camp communicates a desire to move on.

The England international will play in London at Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday night, while Liverpool and the Spanish champions meet in the second leg of their own last 16 tie next week.

Owen was speaking to 90min as the ambassador of the UEFA Champions League at a recent pop-up event in west London organised by OPPO, the smartphone company who are the official global partner of the UEFA Champions League.

OPPO looks to empower football fans’ experiences with its advanced imaging technology to witness, capture and share heart-stopping moments on the pitch, through the new OPPO Find N2 Flip smartphone.

Asked as a former player for both Liverpool and Real Madrid, two of Bellingham's primary suitors, what decision may be best for the player, Owen admitted Bellingham was essentially spoiled for choice with two of the world's best considered excellent options.

"Real Madrid are just a phenomenal club that are the envy of the world, in terms of the trophies they've won and the success they've had," Owen told 90min. "They've always been one of the great teams of world football.

"When Real Madrid came calling for me, I just couldn't ignore the temptation of playing in a different country; that white kit and that stadium with the great players they had and all the rest of it, the history of the club.

"It's a massive temptation for anybody. On the flip side, the Premier League is probably a better league now than it was when I had that decision. La Liga was probably the best league in the world at that point and now the Premier League is.

"You've got a player that could come back to his home in the UK, obviously playing for a great club with a great history as well."

Liverpool have been going through something of a transitional season so far this year and find themselves trailing 5-2 going into the second leg of their last 16 tie with Los Blancos next week, but Owen insists that Liverpool are still an incredibly strong choice to go with if Bellingham does indeed choose to move to Anfield.

"There is no right or wrong decision," he continued. "I do think that at some point Bellingham will move from Dortmund and i'm sure Liverpool will be a strong, dominant force for many years as well.

"Neither of them are going anywhere. They're always going to be big clubs. So it'll be a hard decision even if they are the only two, but I'm sure there'll be lots of other teams that want him as well."

Owen believes that Bellingham could be taking a step to a future Ballon d'Or if he makes the right choice over his next club and he goes on to enjoy success at domestic and international level with England. Owen is one of only four English players to ever win the award.

Speaking on his own experience of winning it in 2001, Owen said: "You've got to be good enough, for one. And then secondly, you've got to be playing for a team that is massively successful or in a nation that is massively successful. So if England were to win a World Cup and he's the star performer, then he'd have a great chance.