The Jude Bellingham to Liverpool saga took two unprecedented twists yesterday. For weeks there have been rumours spreading on social media that the England international was set to announce where he will play his football next season and the consensus from most media outlets was that Liverpool were the hot favourites to secure his signature. So when trusted source and former Premier League striker Jan Aage Fjortoft tweeted that the reds had made their opening bid for the midfielder fans got rightly excited.
However, it was less than an hour later that many top tier Liverpool journalists began to break the news that Jurgen Klopp was backing a decision not to pursue the Bellingham deal which could end up costing the club 130 million Euro. It seems the decision makers at Anfield would prefer to spread their money over several signings rather than throw all of their eggs in one basket after a terrible campaign. The news has sent Liverpool Twitter in to absolute melt down with people calling for Jurgen Klopp and the owners to move on after months and months of Hey Jude hype.
While I totally understand the frustration it still feels like there is more to go in the Jude Bellingham to Liverpool story. Fjortoft is adamant that his source regarding the 90 million Euro bid was solid and many of the news sources that are today saying Liverpool are out of the race had them has Bellingham’s preferred destination just a few days ago. To me it seems like the games have only just begun.
I believe a bid was made and promptly rejected by Borussia Dortmund who were never likely to accept any opening offer. From here Liverpool have told reporters their interest in Bellingham has cooled knowing full well that he wants to come to Anfield. Now it is up to Jude to and his team to push what he wants and let the German club know that it’s Liverpool or no one. This isn’t the first time that we have used such a tactic. Newspapers also reported that bids for Virgil Van Dijk, Alisson Becker, Naby Keita and Thiago Alcantara were not going to happen with Liverpool “cooling their interest,” in the all of those players before striking a deal.
Terry Flewers from, The Football Terrace also warned Liverpool fans not believe the PR spin as it was simply a case of their initial bid being rejected by Dortmund. In fact it makes no sense to pull out of the race for a player that we have be keeping tabs on for years. We would have known what his club value him at and we would have known that they would reject any initial bid. These talks will not be the first between the two clubs and to suggest anything else is ridiculous. There is no doubt in my mind that Klopp and the team are playing the game. They do not want this to drag on deep into the summer as they will be looking to tie up several deals as soon as possible. Jude is the key, get him and the others will follow. Quite simply, Liverpool are not out of the race for Jude Bellingham.