Liverpool and Manchester United target Jude Bellingham could use an intricate scoring system utilised by Erling Haaland to decide on his next club, according to new reports.
Bellingham's long-term future has been the subject of major discussion and speculation in recent months, with the Borussia Dortmund midfielder linked with several European giants.
As well as Liverpool and United, The Times claimed in October that Real Madrid are also in the race to sign him, with Los Blancos seeing Bellingham as the natural successor to Luka Modric.
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If the 19-year-old did sign for Real, he would become the first English player to play for the men's side since Jonathan Woodgate in 2007.
German outlet Bild, meanwhile, claim that Bellingham is waiting for a 'concrete offer' from three Premier League clubs - Man City, Liverpool and Chelsea - interested in signing him.
But United have also been credited with an interest, and could launch a bid for the player.
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Now, more reports have emerged about how Bellingham will deal with his future, whether that be moving to another club or staying at Dortmund for the time being.
Bellingham to use Haaland 'system'
According to CBS Sports reporter Ben Jacobs, Bellingham could follow the lead of former Dortmund team-mate Haaland, and use a scoring system to determine his future.
Jacobs claims that the Man City star judged potential future clubs on a number of factors, including sentimentality, manager, team-mates and training facilities.
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Speaking to FootballTransfers, Jacobs says Bellingham will go in the same direction over what is a crucial decision in his career.
He explained: "Bellingham will do exactly what Haaland did. He will score who he joins dispassionately, which is key.
"When Haaland joined Manchester City, of course, he looked into the sentiment, and the fact that his father played for the football club.
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"But he also created a bunch of columns, ranging from manager to team-mates to training facilities, to where the team was, to pay packet, to city, and so on. Some of them were objective categories, and some of them were subjective categories. And he scored them.
"He had a gut instinct, from what I understand, that Manchester City were his favourite club, but wanted to see if the data added up. He scored all of the suitors, and Manchester City were top of the list."
It is hard to imagine Liverpool as any lower than competing at the very top of Bellingham's potential list, given their impressive facilities, manager Jurgen Klopp and their position as one of the top sides in Europe, regardless of their current Premier League form and seventh place standing going into the World Cup break.
Whether the 19-year-old chooses the Reds remains to be seen.
Topics: Jude Bellingham, Liverpool, Manchester United, Erling Haaland, Transfers
Ryan Smart