It sounds kind of rude but it's the truth and realising the ceiling is the first step to push beyond it.
I'm not entirely sure if the club wants to realise this too though, the last transfer window was far from convincing.
Feels more like settling to me but it can be kind of disheartening when it happens every other season.
Like how do you make the Ruhrpott attractive to star players when they dont 100% identify with the mentality and the people there knowing that you can pay well but you cant pay Man City/Real Madrid well, knowing you're able to compete for most titles but chances of winning are a different story?
On top of that individual ambitions will always be better realised at the behemoth clubs like chance for ballon d'or, individual sponsoring and contracts etc
Then there is the lifestyle and glamour factor too which you also cant ignore, especially when there is partners or family involved.
Bild also read heavily into this tbh, they make biased connections they want to have.
They see Bellingham going to the fans alone after a match and make it about him being selfish because Haaland was really popular but we have no right to attribute this to a characteristic of his.
I dont want to blame him for soaking up that atmosphere alone and it wasnt every time tbh.
Same way Bild attributed Adeyemis dip in form to his new girlfriend.
They spin stories and are biased as fuck.
The only other example is when he dissed Schulz but here im biased because im all for "pregnant wife beater" slander.
And Bellingham wants straight to the top of football, same as Haaland.
It's not like they left us for sidegrades, they simply outgrew us and when they do, there is like 3-4 clubs to go to.
There is no shame in admitting that.
We molded two of the best players on the planet and have molded a couple of them in the past.