While the German media are reporting that a deal for Bellingham has been done, Sunderland’s stance is that they have still not received an offer they would deem to be acceptable for the 19-year-old midfielder.
Bellingham is understood to have spelled out his desire to follow in his brother’s footsteps by joining Dortmund, with the Bundesliga club keen to tie up a deal before the close of business next Tuesday, enabling them to select their new addition in their squad for the Club World Cup.
However, amid talk of a €40m release clause in Bellingham’s contract, Dortmund are hoping to complete a deal for an up-front fee of around £25m. Sunderland regard that as unacceptable, and while discussions in the next few days are expected to result in a compromise agreement, the Black Cats hierarchy are adamant that any deal will be on their preferred terms.
Speakman was asked directly about Bellingham’s position when he spoke to members of the North-East media yesterday, but the Black Cats chief did not want to discuss the specifics of the situation, with talks ongoing.
“I can’t say anything on that specific situation,” said Speakman, when asked for an update on Bellingham’s position. “What we can’t be doing is speculating on every single player and every potential trade, whether that’s a player leaving or a player coming in.
“It’s just the nature of the industry. Once we know where we are with certain players and things can be defined, then we’ll try to be public on that.”
Speakman was, however, keen to stress that Sunderland have no desire to sell a raft of their leading players this summer, even if they are inundated with offers.
Dan Neil, who is about to enter the final year of his current contract, has been heavily linked with a potential move to Roma in the last few days, while Anthony Patterson, Trai Hume, Dan Ballard and Chris Rigg have all been the subject of reported interest from Premier League clubs in the last 12 months.
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Sunderland have sold key players before under the current regime, most notably when Ross Stewart left for Southampton and Jack Clarke joined Ipswich Town. For all the talk of striking the deal, it feels extremely unlikely that Bellingham will still be a Black Cats player come the start of next season.
That might well be that in terms of outgoings though, with Speakman determined to do everything he can to give the club the best possible chance of surviving in the top-flight next season.
“We’ve lost key players over the last few windows, players who would have been perceived as key, star players within the group,” he said. “You’ve always got to have a plan in place for all the group.
“I’ve always said that the byproduct of a successful team will be the backhanded compliment of people wanting your players. I’m sure if I went on social media today, or on the internet, there’ll be a raft of players who have done well for Sunderland that other teams would like.
“I’m proud of that. I’m proud of those individual players for doing so well that they get that recognition. But it’s our job to make sure that people see Sunderland as where their focus needs to be, and I think we’ve managed to do that over the last couple of years, which has resulted in a successful team.”
To that end, Speakman accepts there might be a need to hold one-on-one talks with some of Sunderland’s leading lights this summer in order to spell out the club’s long-term ambitions in the wake of winning promotion.
“The context of every situation is different, and you always have to bear that in mind,” he said. “All of the players you’re dealing with are humans, they all have their own aspirations and what they want to achieve.
“Obviously, we’ve got a collective number of players at the minute that have bought in to what Sunderland is. Through that collective and connection between everyone, we’ve managed to build a successful team that has got the club back into the Premier League.
“When you do my type of job, or Regis’ (Le Bris) type of job, then you have to consider all those pieces and try to come up with the right answer. Thankfully, over the last few years, we’ve made more correct decisions than wrong decisions with that. We’ve got to keep continuing with that.”
While some of Sunderland’s new Premier League rivals find themselves having to sell players before the end of the month in order to comply with Profit and Sustainability rules (PSR), the Black Cats have no such worries.
“As a new Premier League team, you don’t carry over as many financial liabilities and issues as some of the other teams in the league have,” said Speakman. “But obviously you do have different challenges.
“From our perspective, we’ve got an opportunity to build something. We have to make really good short-term decisions, and short-term decisions that don’t impact negatively on the long term if you get a less positive outcome.”