Jamie Carragher has weighed in on Liverpool’s potential move for Jude Bellingham and suggested that his former club should bring their transfer plans forward and sign the midfielder in January rather than next summer.
The Reds performed a similar move with Luis Diaz recently after he was signed from FC Porto in January of this year – seven months earlier than was initially planned after Tottenham also expressed interest in the Colombian’s signature.
Jurgen Klopp is a huge admirer of the Borussia Dortmund star who is believed to be the club’s main priority at the end of the season – a move that should be considered during the winter window according to the ex-Red.
“Well I’ve seen the links, of course, but I just hope they’re true,” he told talkSPORT (as quoted by the Liverpool Echo). “No one knows, do they? But there’s no doubt that Liverpool will have a huge job in the summer, or whether that’s in January, in terms of reconstructing their midfield.
“Just because of the age profile of a lot of the midfield players and also the fact that I think there’s two or three players out of contract at the end of the season. So before you ever even think about the actual quality of maybe something extra that they need, it’s obvious because of the situation the club finds itself in that they’ll need two or three midfield players in the summer.
VOTE for Empire of the Kop as Best Club Content Creator (Premier League) here: Football Content Awards
OR on Twitter with the FCA’s one-click Twitter link with: I am voting for @Empireofthekop in @The_FCAs for #BestClubContentCreator (Premier League)
“And if Jude Bellingham is one of them, fantastic, because he is a great player. And as I said, there’s going to be a lot of rumours between now and the end of the season with different midfield players. I just hope that one’s true.”
It’s believed that the Bundesliga outfit value the 19-year-old at around £130m and, although that is a serious amount of money, when you consider that he is a fully-fledged England international who has Champions League experience and bags of potential, that transfer fee does appear to make sense.
Liverpool supporters were crying out for the club to sign a new midfielder this summer after Klopp experienced a mini-injury crisis in the middle of the park.
Jordan Henderson, Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Curtis Jones are all sidelined through injury at the moment while Thiago Alcantara has only recently returned from a hamstring strain.
Arthur Melo was signed on loan from Juventus on deadline day and it will be interesting to see what sort of role he plays for the club this season.
He is currently putting extra work in at the AXA Training Centre in order to force his way into Klopp’s plans and he also appeared for the U21s in a Football League Trophy clash with Rochdale recently.
Bellingham is the one player that many of the Red persuasion want to see arrive at Anfield and it feels like we’ve been linked with the teenager for what feels like an eternity.
It’s certainly going to be interesting to see if any clubs make a move for him in January, but we already know that there’s going to be a major battle for his signature at the end of the current campaign.