Jurgen Klopp knows his Liverpool squad needs a rebuild this summer. The club should be making Jude Bellingham the centerpiece of their summer business.
Liverpool are in need of a squad overhaul if they want to get back into Premier League title contention next season. Jude Bellingham would be the perfect signing to get Jurgen Klopp’s side back in the mix for silverware on all fronts.
Unfortunately for fans who frequent Anfield on a regular basis, recent reports suggest that Liverpool have given up on the chase to sign the young English talisman. The Athletic are reporting that Liverpool officials are put off by Bellingham’s potential price tag. His current club, Borussia Dortmund, are looking for a transfer fee in the neighborhood of £130 million.
The updated plan at Liverpool is to use the club’s significant transfer kitty to buy several players who can inject life and energy into Klopp’s squad. The decision to focus on quantity over quality is going to come back to haunt the club.
Premier League news: Liverpool is making a mistake by giving up on Jude Bellingham
Bellingham has rare superstar potential that doesn’t come available on the transfer market very often. He’s been one of Dortmund’s top players this season at the tender age of 19. He’s already a full English international and projects to be one of his country’s key players for the next decade.
His style of play is also perfectly suited to Klopp’s tactics. He needs energetic, creative midfielders to build a platform for his talented attacking corps. Bellingham possesses a non-stop engine in the middle of the pitch that regularly sees him making clever runs into the opposing penalty area. He’s also not afraid to track back and put in a crunching tackle to win the ball back in his own half. If Klopp were permitted to build his ideal midfielder in a lab it would end up looking a lot like Bellingham.
Liverpool’s decision to give up on Bellingham won’t just haunt them because he won’t be boosting their squad. It’s also very likely he’ll end up competing against them on a regular basis. Passing on him due to his transfer fee will open the door for Manchester City and several other English clubs to bring him in this summer.
The counterargument that Liverpool need more than just one player to refresh their squad this summer does hold weight. The idea that Bellingham’s fee would prevent that from happening does not. Liverpool have the financial might required to buy Bellingham and still purchase two or three additional players. The idea that it’s Bellingham or several players just doesn’t fit the club’s financial reality.
In the end, Liverpool will do healthy transfer business this summer but they’ve already given up on the best possible outcome. Bellingham would become a superstar at Anfield and Liverpool will rue the day they left the chance to sign him pass them by.
