Arsenal’s recruitment department admire Jude Bellingham, but the Gunners would be serious underdogs if they attempted a summer move.

James McNicholas reports for The Athletic that Jude Bellingham is admired by Arsenal’s recruitment department, but there are significant obstacles to any potential deal for the player.

For a start, Dortmund believe Bellingham is worth as much as €150m (£132m), well clear of Arsenal’s club-record transfer fee.

Even with a return to the Champions League, that fee and Bellingham’s wages would be a stretch.

Then there’s the fact Arsenal are a long way behind the competition in trying to convince the player to join.

The likes of Liverpool and Real Madrid have already put in a lot of work to convince Bellingham to pick them, with others also positioning themselves for a summer bid.

McNicholas concludes that Arsenal could well be considerable underdogs if they made a move for Bellingham.

To even stand a chance in the race, Arsenal would certainly need to return to the Champions League, and they’d probably also need to win the Premier League.

If Arsenal could do that, and that’s a big “if”, then the Gunners should have a couple of advantages in the race.

Mikel Arteta is in charge of a young and promising team, one which should improve over the coming years and is already competing at the top of the Premier League – the best league in the world and the division Bellingham would have grown up watching.

Bellingham will know the likes of Bukayo Saka, Ben White, and Aaron Ramsdale from his time with England, and he’d be well suited to Arteta’s current formation.

None of that will magically give Arsenal £132m to spend on him, nor the long-standing European reputation of a club like Real Madrid, but it stops a move to north London from sounding too far-fetched.

Arsenal just have the small matter of trying to win the Premier League first.