Jude Bellingham's father, Mark, convinced the teenager to join Borussia Dortmund instead of Manchester United in the summer, according to The Mirror.
The report claims that Mark Bellingham, who was a prolific goalscorer in non-league football, persuaded his son to join the Bundesliga club after watching the development of England international Jadon Sancho.
Dortmund are expected to sign the 16-year-old midfielder for an initial fee of £18m and could pay up to £25m if performance-related add-ons are included in the deal.
Manchester United were firmly in the chase to sign the 16-year-old, and even invited him for a star-studded tour around their training base, but appear to have fallen short.
The future of Bellingham, who lit up the Championship outfit after breaking into the first-team fold at a tender age, has long since been unclear.
A host of elite European clubs were also interested in luring him to them but the youngster is expected to complete a move to Dortmund.
Bellingham will be unable to put pen to paper on a professional deal until he turns 17, which will be on June 29.
He is currently earning just £145 per week at Birmingham, but has reportedly been handed an offer of £60,000-a-week at his new club.
And having already endeared himself to the St Andrew's faithful, the starlet will see out the rest of the campaign in the second tier before permanently jetting out to Germany.
The reported transfer figure comes in the form of a training compensation. The agreement is similar to the €7m (£6.3m) deal that saw Sancho move from Manchester City to Dortmund in pursuit of first team football in 2018.