"I wish him all the best. He has been a good servant to Sunderland. I just hope he goes on to develop like his brother."

While Bellingham has a promotion on his CV now, as an individual, Hackney out-ranked the Sunderland star in many key midfield metrics last season - including with his progressive passing, where he topped the number of successful forward passes across all of Europe.

Borussia Dortmund have agreed a fee of up to €38million (£32m; $43.3m) with Sunderland for Jobe Bellingham. The German club will pay between €30m-€33m for the 19-year-old, with the additional fee coming from potential add-ons.