Bellingham becomes most expensive 17-year-old in the World

Jude Bellingham has become the world's most expensive 17-year-old

Jude Bellingham has signed for Borussia Dortmund from Birmingham for an initial fee of £25m.

The 17-year-old English midfielder completed a medical in Germany on Thursday after Dortmund persuaded him to move to the Bundesliga club over Manchester United, who had also made him an offer.

It is understood Birmingham will receive a guaranteed £25m up front, with fees worth 'several millions more' potentially added on depending on appearances, achievements and milestones.

"Of course I wish everyone associated with the club nothing but the best. Once a blue always a blue.

"However, I'm incredibly excited to have joined one of Europe's biggest clubs. The direction they are heading in and how much they help to improve young players made it an easy decision for myself and my family.

"I can't wait to perform in front of all the fans when they are back inside one of the most beautiful stadiums in the world."

Bellingham - who only signed a professional deal with Birmingham this month - follows in the footsteps of Jadon Sancho, who moved to Dortmund in 2017 and has since gone on to become one the stars of the Bundesliga and an England international.

Dortmund courted the midfielder, who turned 17 in June, for more than two years, amid stiff competition from most of Europe's top teams, including Chelsea, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and, most notably, Manchester United.

United pulled out all the stops in their attempts to sign the box-to-box midfielder, offering him a tour of their training ground with Sir Alex Ferguson.

But the England U17 skipper has chosen Dortmund due to the club's long history of developing young talent and their policy of giving them the chance to play in the Bundesliga.

Dortmund's sporting director, Michael Zorc, confirmed Bellingham will be part of their first team, saying: "Jude Bellingham confidently chose BVB and, of course, was primarily concerned with the sporting perspective that we showed him.

"He has enormous potential that we want to develop with him in the coming years. He already has a surprising amount of quality in his own possession as well as against the ball, and on top of that, the player also has a strong mentality.

"We immediately see Jude as a reinforcement for our professional squad, but of course we will also give him the time to get used to the higher level."

Bellingham will be available for Birmingham's final game of the season, against Derby on Wednesday, and will then join Dortmund for pre-season training on July 30 and a training camp in Switzerland on August 10.

Bellingham - who will wear the No 22 shirt in Dortmund - has been sought after in England and in Germany even before he became Birmingham's youngest ever first-team player at the age of 16 years and 38 days last August.

Analysis: Why Bellingham is a special talent

Sky Sports' Adam Bate:

Bellingham made his debut for the England U15 team at just 13 and clubs all over Europe have been targeting him for years. Now it is Borussia Dortmund spending big on Jude Bellingham.

At the age of 17, his transition to the senior game has been seamless. The touch and the class are apparent but he has coped physically too - putting in plenty of tackles - and handled the mental side of the step up impressively well. All the signs are that he is someone who is going to maximise his talent - and that maximum looks higher than most.

Birmingham were well aware they had a unique talent on their hands for some time and the club deserves huge credit for their handling of Bellingham's development both before and after his breakthrough into the first team. His transition has not been by luck. It has been a carefully thought-out process in order to help him along each step of the way.

The question now is whether he is prepared to take the next step in his development. There will be those who fear it is too soon. He has been playing regular Championship football, after all.

But the next step for Bellingham is the Bundesliga, and Dortmund were not the only ones convinced that this is a player who is ready for that step sooner rather than later.

By Mbuba Chiagozie Tochukwu
On July 19, 2020
No Comment

1. Ozo
Consultant and entrepreneur Ozoemena "Ozo" Chukwu (27), is from Imo State. One of his greatest achievements is working with a UEFA Federation in Europe. It is no surprise then that when he is not busy consulting or managing his urban clothing line, you’ll find him analysing sports and watching documentaries and TV shows.
What new habit or skill did you acquire during lockdown? Learning to stay without loud music.
What are your words to live by? No boundaries with an ounce of hope.
What is your biggest achievement? Working for a UEFA Federation. It was a job I took great pride in and enjoyed doing.
2. Vee
3. Prince
4. Lilo
5. Tricky Tee
6. Lucy
7. K-wire
8. Dorathy
9. Praise
10. Wathoni
11. Tochi
12. Kathrina
13. Eric
14. Erica
15. Brighto
16. Kaisha
17. Neo
Emuobonuvie "Neo" Akpofure (26), popularly referred to as Neo, is a ride-hailing app driver and a Delta State native. Although he describes himself as fun, tolerant, loving and smart, he won't hesitate to be Indaboski Bahose when it comes to issues concerning bullying and inequality.
What new habit or skill did you acquire during lockdown? Sketching.
What are your words to live by? To always remain grateful, knowing that God is greater than my ups and downs. Since I no spoil person own, no body fit spoil my own.
What is your biggest achievement? I won N 500 000 from a talent competition.
18. TolaniBaj

19. Leycon
Olamilekan "Laycon" Agbeleshe is a 26-year-old singer and rapper from Lagos. He's a graduate of philosophy from the University of Lagos who started his musical journey at an early age and has now emerged as one of Nigeria’s most promising new school acts. He describes himself as being versatile and able to coin words together to soothe scenarios and moods.
What new habit or skill did you acquire during lockdown? I acquired the habit of singing and reading my bible.
What are your words to live by? Facts don't care about your feelings.
What’s your biggest achievement? I'd say having my song 'Fierce' on MTV BASE Top ten charts for six months, still tops every other thing I have done.
20. Nengi
Rebecca "Nengi" Hampson (22) is an entrepreneur from Bayelsa State, Nigeria. She is a former model and MBGN Top 5 contestant who loves learning new things, having fun, travelling, taking on new adventures, and being true to herself. Nengi, as she prefers to be called, studied communications at the University of Port Harcourt and is a proud Capricorn. She proclaims: “If you want the job done right, give it to a Capricorn. I give 110% of my energy and enthusiasm into everything I do.”
What new habit or skill did you acquire during lockdown? The ability to talk to myself and enjoy the conversation.
What are your words to live by? Live and let live.
What is your biggest achievement? Getting my BSc. So many times, I could have dropped out, but I persevered.

By ONUCHE
On July 19, 2020
No Comment

This is why the hacker who hacked Bezos, Kenye, Bill gates, others may never be caught.

Shreds

Opera News Nigeria

The story making rounds on Twitter is that of an anonymous Hacker who possibly made a way with thousands, If not millions of dollars in worth of Bitcoin in an online scam yesterday. The hacker was believed to have hacked the accounts of several influencial people and also big corporations such as Jeff Bezos, Apple, Bill gates, Kenye West and others.

In his scam, he asked fans of these people to send money in form of bitcoins to a particular Bitcoin wallet and that after they do so, he would be doubling whatever money they send to him. The trust these fans has for these people was used by the hacker to make them send money to the wallet and hence they were defrauded.

The question remains, would this Hacker ever be caught?

The question seems abstract but the truth is that he may never be caught. This is why he used a Bitcoin wallet to steal these funds. To understand why he can never be caught, we need to break down how Bitcoin wallet and address works.

Bitcoin is a crytocurrency that since it's inception has become a major "E- currency" in the world as it is now. One BTC as at now is almost 3.5 million Naira.

A wallet address, comprising a string of 26-35 alphanumeric characters, is all it takes to send and receive bitcoin. Any bitcoin address can be used to transfer cryptocurrency to any other address on the network, provided the sender’s wallet software supports that address type. It is believed that the owners of Bitcoin addresses are mostly anonymous but they transactions are made public by Block chain.

Quoting an investigation journalist, he said, "However, Bitcoin wallet addresses alone don’t reveal any identifiable details. However, they do provide a foothold for further investigation. Imagine your Bitcoin address like an email address or an online alias; how hard it is to link to your actions depends largely on what you do with it and the willingness of another party to trace you."

Basically you can only be caught If you are careless. Imagine a Hacker that is capable of hacking verified Twitter accounts, how careless so you think these people or persons could be. The investigative journalist further stated that, "Say you publicly share your Bitcoin wallet address. Perhaps on a forum. Even if it’s not shared with any identifiable details, you may have used the same username somewhere else. You may have shared identifiable details in another post under that username, which someone can track by looking through your posting history. You may also have used an email address to sign up to the forum, which is also public. It’s not hard to then connect the dots."

In other words, there is no direct link to a person's Bitcoin wallet and his identity. Let's imagine a scenario where the Hacker opens a new Bitcoin wallet which is actually what happened and then uses a completely new and false details to open a Gmail address and has no previous activity with the wallet. This means that such a Bitcoin wallet can not be traced to the Hacker except he was careless.

This is also the case with HUSHPUPPI whose Bitcoin wallet address is in public domain but it can neither be traced nor the money retrieved. This is also the reason most hackers now uses Bitcoin to trade on the dark web because it is nearly impossible to trace.

What so you think about This? Hit the follow button below for more news

By Manax_pe
On July 19, 2020
No Comment

Leeds United are back! The Premier League is about to crank it up a notch with the three-time English champions finally out of the wilderness and the pure enigmatic madness of Marcelo Bielsa bringing an added degree of intrigue.
For 16 years, the West Yorkshire club have been scrapping it out in the lower divisions, even dropping as low as League One in 2007. But those dispirited afternoons at Elland Road are now a thing of the past with Leeds finally returning to the big time after nearly two decades.
During that time a lot has changed in football. Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger have left Manchester United and Arsenal respectively, Leicester City clinched a fairytale Premier League title and Manchester City have emerged as a global powerhouse.

Things have changed quite a bit for the current Premier League managers as well. The last time Leeds were tussling with the heavyweights of the top-flight some were still in the prime years of their playing careers, while other were just starting out in the dugout.
Here we go back to 2004 and revisit what each current Premier League manager was up to.

Mikel Arteta (Arsenal)

Where: Rangers
Role: Player
Age: 22

Arteta joined Rangers from Barcelona in 2002 after a successful loan spell at Paris Saint-Germain, where he played alongside the likes of Mauricio Pochettino, Ronaldinho and Jay-Jay Okocha, and he immediately impressed in the Scottish Premier League.
Such was his form at Ibrox that Real Sociedad acquired his services in the summer that Leeds went down. The idea was for Arteta to form a midfield partnership with childhood friend Xabi Alonso, but he left for Liverpool that summer and the current Arsenal boss eventually departed for Everton in January that season.

Dean Smith (Aston Villa)

Where: Sheffield Wednesday
Role: Player
Age: 33

This was Smith’s penultimate season on the pitch and he marked it by captaining the Owls to safety in the third tier. Sheffield Wednesday had slipped down to the old Second Division (now League One) the season prior, and Smith helped them avoid back-to-back relegations by just three points in 2003/04. He left that summer for Port Vale, where he finished his playing career.

Eddie Howe (Bournemouth)

Where: Swindon Town (on loan from Portsmouth)
Role: Player
Age: 26

Incredibly Mr. Bournemouth was not at Bournemouth when Leeds plummeted down the food chain. However, normality was restored just a few months later when he joined the Cherries from Pompey on loan before completing a permanent switch. But in 2003/04, Howe spent the second half of the season at Swindon.
Howe was famously Harry Redknapp’s first signing at Portsmouth but injuries beset his stint at Fratton Park, leading to a temporary move to Swindon, for whom he failed to make a single appearance as he tried to recapture his form and fitness. He subsequently returned to Portsmouth that summer.

Graham Potter (Brighton)

Where: Macclesfield Town
Role: Player
Age: 29

Potter spent the 2003/04 season with three separate clubs. The former Southampton defender joined Boston United at the start of the campaign before moving to Shrewsbury Town on loan and, eventually, Macclesfield on a free transfer in February 2004. Potter spent one more season on the pitch and eventually hung up his boots with the Silkmen in 2005, where he began his academic career before moving into coaching.

Sean Dyche (Burnley)

Where: Watford
Role: Player
Age: 33

By the time 2004 came around Dyche had forged a very respectable career in the lower divisions as a hard-hitting centre-back. He had played under esteemed tacticians, ranging from Brian Clough to former England assistant Ray Lewington and would be skippering Watford in 2004/05 against Leeds in the Championship. One of the up-and-coming academy products he was captaining that season was a certain Ashley Young. Very odd imagining these two sharing a pitch together.

Frank Lampard (Chelsea)

Where: Chelsea
Role: Player
Age: 26

Where was Lampard when Leeds were relegated from the Premier League? Well, he was right there, at Stamford Bridge on the final game of the season as Leeds suffered a 1-0 defeat to Chelsea. Their relegation had already been confirmed, but this was just one final twist of the knife as the Premier League waved goodbye to the once dominant West Yorkshire club.
‘Lamps’ was already in his third season as a Chelsea player after moving from boyhood club West Ham, and he marked that campaign with his first Premier League double-digit haul, throwing down the gauntlet for many more years of goalscoring excellence in west London.

Roy Hodgson (Crystal Palace)

Where: United Arab Emirates
Role: Manager
Age: 56

Hodgson was well travelled by the time 2004 came around. He had just left his position as manager of United Arab Emirates in January of that year and joined Norwegian club Viking in July, this being his 13th non-English job. Hodgson was dismissed from his position in charge of UAE after overseeing a dismal 16th Arabian Gulf Cup campaign, in which his side placed fifth in the round-robin tournament.

Carlo Ancelotti (Everton)

Where: AC Milan
Role: Manager
Age: 45

The 2003/04 season was a formidable one for Ancelotti, whose famed ‘Christmas Tree’ formation was flourishing on Italian soil as his AC Milan side went the entire campaign with just two defeats and cantered to a Scudetto in fine fashion. The Italian coach already had a Champions League title to his name and was tutoring illustrious names like Kaka, Clarence Seedorf, Andriy Shevchenko, Paolo Maldini, and well, you get the point.

Brendan Rodgers (Leicester City)

Where: Reading/Chelsea
Role: Academy director
Age: 31

Rodgers saw his playing career cut short prematurely by a genetic knee condition and eventually moved into a coaching role with the youth ranks at Reading. It was at the Madejski that Rodgers garnered the attention of top clubs in England for his work in youth football, and he was eventually recruited by Chelsea in 2004 after Jose Mourinho spotted his coaching potential.

Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool)

Where: Mainz 05
Role: Manager
Age: 37

The 2003/04 season was the making of Jurgen Klopp. Having spent three seasons as Mainz’s manager, he helped stabilise them in the 2. Bundesliga, where he guided the Carnival club to successive fourth-place finishes, and in 2004, he masterminded an unthinkable promotion to the German top flight for the first time in the club’s history.

Pep Guardiola (Manchester City)

Where: Al-Ahli
Role: Player
Age: 33

Having rejected Manchester United, Guardiola opted for a move to the Qatar Stars League with Al-Ahli in 2003/04. The Catalonian was just beginning to wind down his career after 11 trophy-laden years with Barcelona, as well as brief stints at Brescia and Roma. Guardiola spent two years with the Brigadier before finishing his career in Mexico under now-assistant coach Juan Manuel Lillo at Dorados de Sinaloa.
We couldn’t get a picture of his time in the Middle East, so here is one during a match for Spain around the same time.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (Manchester United)

Where: Man Utd
Role: Player
Age: 31

The 2003/04 season was the beginning of the end for the “Baby-faced Assassin”. He began the campaign as Fergie’s unorthodox winger, but a injury sustained against Panathinaikos in September sidelined the Norwegian for several months. He recovered to play 19 games that season, including a late cameo in the 2004 FA Cup final win, but that summer he would require major surgery from which he never properly recovered.

Steve Bruce (Newcastle)

Where: Birmingham
Role: Manager
Age: 43

Bruce was in charge of Birmingham in the Premier League during Leeds’ collapse. The former Manchester United defender played his part in Leeds’ subsequent relegation as his Blues side did the double over the Whites in the 2003/04 season. At Elland Road, a Robbie Savage penalty and a late Mikael Forssell strike secured a 2-0 victory, while four goals, including braces from Bryan Hughes and Mikael Forssell, put the sword to Leeds at St Andrew’s.

Daniel Farke (Norwich)

Where: SV Wilhelmshaven
Role: Player
Age: 27

Following in the footsteps of his grandfather Franz, who won the German title as a player and donned the yellow and black of Borussia Dortmund, Daniel Farke spent most of his career in the lower divisions of Germany before moving into coaching. The self-proclaimed “slowest striker in the whole of Western Europe” was playing for SV Wilhelmshaven by the time Leeds’ dropped out of the Premier League.

Chris Wilder (Sheffield United)

Where: Halifax Town
Role: Manager
Age: 36

The current Sheff Utd boss was in the second of a six-year spell with the Shaymen. He presided over the reins in West Yorkshire for more than 300 games, during which time he tried to sign Jamie Vardy, but couldn’t afford the fee. Vardy later joined Halifax in 2010 after Wilder had already left.
“I don’t think I could afford the £10,000 that Halifax Town bought him for!” Wilder recently joked.

Ralph Hasenhuttl (Southampton)

Where: Bayern Munich II
Role: Player
Age: 36

If you glance at Bayern Munich II now you’ll find illustrious up-and-coming names like Joshua Zirkzee, Michael Cuisance and highly coveted English teenager Jamal Musiala. But, back in 2004 an ageing Ralph Hasenhuttl was finishing his playing career for the Bavarian giant’s reserve team. The eight-time Austria international called time on his career on the pitch that summer after two years for Little Bayern.

Jose Mourinho (Tottenham Hotspur)

Where: Porto
Role: Manager
Age: 41

This was the summer where English football would change forever. With Leeds exiting the Premier League, a certain “Special One” entered the frame and began his reign as Chelsea’s transformative tactician, guiding the club to Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup titles galore. But, that 2003/04 will always remain a glittering footnote on his CV as Mourinho masterminded a truly remarkable Champions League win with Porto. Cue obligatory snapshot of the Portuguese sprinting down the Old Trafford touchline…

Nigel Pearson (Watford)

Where: West Brom
Role: Assistant coach
Age: 40

Pearson was officially unattached at the time of Leeds’ relegation, having not coached at a club since 2001, but he was snapped up in 2004 by the Baggies to function as Bryan Robson’s assistant coach. That season West Brom survived relegation by the skin of their teeth, and Pearson eventually took over as caretaker coach following the sacking of Robson in 2006.

David Moyes (West Ham)

Where: Everton
Role: Manager
Age: 41

West Ham’s ‘Moyesiah’ looks to have performed his duties as the club’s go-to escapologist once again, but he will now be hoping to form some consistency and build a project similar to his one at Goodison Park. That started in 2002, and like Bruce for Birmingham, Moyes’ Everton did Leeds absolutely no favours in 2003/04 as the Toffees picked up four points against them, including a 4-0 win on Merseyside.
Incredibly, Everton finished just outside the relegation zone in 17th. Had Leeds reversed those results against the Goodison Park club, they would have stayed up and Moyes would have sunk with the Toffees. It is a game of fine margins football.

Nuno Espirito Santo (Wolves)

Where: Porto
Role: Player
Age: 30

In the same month Leeds were condemned to the Championship, Espirito Santo was sitting on the bench as Porto scooped the Champions League trophy against Monaco. The Wolves manager was picked up by Mourinho in 2002 as a back-up goalkeeper and performed that role well as the Dragons went on to sweep European football and achieve the unthinkable.