Birmingham's highly-rated youngster Jude Bellingham has been warned against moving to Manchester United too soon in his career by former Arsenal winger Jermaine Pennant.
Bellingham, 16, is wanted by United and has already started 18 Championship fixtures for Birmingham this season. United are looking at a January move for the midfielder in an attempt to beat off competition from some of Europe's biggest clubs.
However, Pennant - who joined Arsenal at the age of 15 - says Bellingham would 'hit a brick wall' at United, and is better off developing at St Andrew's.
“It’s difficult, it will be so hard for Jude to turn down a move to Manchester United," Pennant told talkSPORT.
“But is it going to halt his career, at 16? Ole is not going to be throwing him into the starting line-up, he will be in the squad but he won’t be starting. How many games is he going to play?
“Now he is a regular at Birmingham. Birmingham is in the Championship, not League One, not League Two, the Championship, it’s good football.
“The Championship is a very difficult league, more demanding than the Premier League - and he’s 16 and he’s holding his weight, he is putting in tackles, he’s strong."
Pennant moved to Birmingham later in his career, and he provided an insight into what Bellingham could offer United.
He explained: “When I saw him, I was thinking ‘No way is he 16, what has he been taking, can I have some of that?’.
“He is skillful, he is box to box, he puts in challenges. You have either got one or the other, skillful players don’t want to tackle, I didn’t tackle.
“He is 16, he is diving in, he is putting his foot in and he’s not scared - and he’s got skill as well. He has got ability as well, he is both footed, scoring goals, creating goals, he is a fantastic talent and he’s only going to get bigger.
“He is tall now but he has still got to grow to 21 so he is going to get bigger, wiser, quicker, stronger, he is a fantastic talent.
“My advice would be to stay at Birmingham for a season, at least for the rest of this season, continue playing, learning more, the trade of demanding first-team football in the Championship and it will do wonders for his career moving forward.
“Rather than going to Man Utd and hitting a brick wall, going from ‘I have been playing every week being a young starlet, to now just floating about training - when am I going to play?’”
