Niko Kovac has expressed his satisfaction with Jobe Bellingham's progress after a difficult beginning to his Borussia Dortmund career. The 19-year-old followed his brother Jude to the Bundesliga this summer, moving from Sunderland for a reported £32 million, but initially struggled to adapt to life in Germany.
Bellingham has made just six starts for the club, and his early days hit a low point when he gifted Bayern Munich a goal in last month's Der Klassiker. Coming off the bench, he miscontrolled the ball in his own six-yard box, allowing Michael Olise to score the decisive goal. However, in his four subsequent appearances, the midfielder has shown signs of settling in.
According to German outlet BILD, Kovac and his coaching staff have held regular one-on-one meetings with Bellingham to monitor his development. The talks have paid off, as he delivered a brace of assists in a 4-2 Champions League win over Copenhagen after being handed a rare start, and later played 120 minutes in a DFB Pokal victory against Eintracht Frankfurt.
Speaking after last weekend's win over Augsburg, Kovac said: 'You could already see in the last game in Frankfurt what qualities he has. He's present, has good physicality and technical quality, which he also showed here in Augsburg in his 30 minutes on the pitch.' Kovac added: 'I really have no doubts about him. On the contrary, I know what he can do. We're building him up gradually here - actually faster than I expected myself - because the boy really has a lot of quality.'
Bellingham is now pushing for a starting spot ahead of Dortmund's trip to face Manchester City on Tuesday, as he aims to build on his recent momentum.
