Dean Jones has claimed that Liverpool’s reported interest in both Enzo Fernandez and Jude Bellingham ‘doesn’t add up’, suggesting that the club doesn’t possess the financial capabilities required to land both talents this summer.
The Merseysiders are said to have identified the Englishman as their top target in 2023, though have also been consistently linked with Benfica’s 2022 signing.
“The talk around Enzo Fernandez and a pre-contract at Liverpool doesn’t exactly fit as far as I have discovered so far,” the reporter told Give Me Sport.
“It sounds like Liverpool would be willing to match or top any personal offer he gets next, but at the end of the day, he still has a big release clause that needs to be met of over £100 million.
“This is at the same time as we are also hearing they want Bellingham, who is in excess of that figure too. It doesn’t add up, Liverpool don’t have that much money to spend on them.
“Maybe Liverpool fear that Bellingham is actually more likely to end up at Man City, who are growing in confidence they can get him.”
The England international has been in stunning form for club and country, registering 12 goal contributions in 22 games (across all competitions) for Borussia Dortmund before helping guide the Three Lions to the quarter-finals of the World Cup.
There’s no question that just one of the aforementioned pair joining the club in the summer along with one or two further additions in the middle of the park would still represent phenomenal business.
Signing, both, of course, would more than secure the future of our midfield department for at least the next decade or so.
Up front cost aside, significant as it would no doubt be, the value of such an eventuality, if achievable, simply can’t be ignored.
Interestingly, there has already been some dispute on Jones’ point, with football finance expert Mo Chatra explaining how we COULD thereotically afford both deals.