Liverpool have undoubtedly managed to impress with their summer business despite the considerable disappointment of missing out on generational midfield talent Jude Bellingham.
The Merseysiders were tipped for months to be a leading force in the pursuit of the England international come the opening of the summer window, only for the club to withdraw their interest when push came to shove.
With Gary Lineker gushing over the former Borussia Dortmund player, amid some terrific performances for club and country, you could understand some fans still feeling like the Reds missed a trick in the market.
“I think Bellingham is in a great starting place. Obviously Harry Kane is the captain and he’s been brilliant at leading the team, but Jude is a natural leader isn’t he?” the BBC MOTD pundit spoke on The Rest is Football podcast (via Birmingham Live).
“He’s not only blessed with incredible ability and remarkable maturity for a man so young, he’s still only 20.
“He’s bossing things at Real Madrid, you can see him bossing things with England as well. He is the sort of play you can envisage leading England through an awfully long time.”
It’s worth hammering home that there can be absolutely no regrets over the decision to land Dominik Szoboszlai as our next No.8 – already the Hungarian skipper has proven his worth in a shirt that carries a great deal of expectation.
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The manner in which the 22-year-old has settled into life in Merseyside along with Alexis Mac Allister and, certainly, Ryan Gravenberch, it could now be argued, certainly indicates that we’ve not been left shortchanged by the remaining options left in the market.
That said, with Bellingham looking set to be a key part of the national setup and the furniture at Real Madrid for at least the next decade, we can’t help but wonder what might have been had our finances been flexible enough to allow us to get our elbows out in the summer alongside Los Blancos.
We’ll now never know, though we’ve already been given more than enough in the way of reason to throw our full support behind our new signings and a rather exciting, new-look midfield.
#Ep94 of The Empire of the Kop Podcast: EOTK Insider with Neil Jones🎙️