Will Liverpool’s Jude Bellingham transfer chase be hit by a slump in form?
Will Liverpool’s Jude Bellingham transfer chase be hit by a slump in form? Jude Bellingham, a midfielder for Borussia Dortmund, is a player Liverpool is interested in signing next summer to address their needs.
Reliable sources have told ESPN that the 19-year-old England international is a top priority for manager Jurgen Klopp and sporting director, Julian Ward in 2023.
Still, the shifting sands of form and results have made it much harder to secure him for about £100 million.
Liverpool has a well-deserved reputation for constantly being one step ahead of the competition regarding scouting and signing new players.
Price
Transfer market analysis and thorough scouting have helped the club sign high-profile players like Virgil van Dijk (£75 million) and Alisson Becker (£66.8 million) for much lower prices than their wealthier competitors were willing to pay.
Liverpool’s subsequent success in England and Europe can be directly attributed to all of those players. However, Liverpool’s summer missteps have derailed the club’s long-term strategy of consistently refreshing and upgrading Klopp’s roster.
When Sadio Mane left for Bayern Munich for £27 million in June, his replacement, Darwin Nunez of Benfica, cost £85 million.
This move was credited to the club’s new sports director, Ward, who had succeeded Michael Edwards at the end of the previous season.
In the summer, Liverpool planned to buy Porto winger Luis Diaz for £37 million. Still, after interest from Tottenham and United, Ward was credited for helping to speed up the deal in January.
Since then, Arthur has only made one first-team game, a 13-minute cameo in a 4-1 Champions League loss to Napoli on September 7.
Last week, he also appeared for Liverpool U21s in the Papa John’s Trophy. The 26-year-old seems like the kind of panic signing Liverpool has seen their less successful competitors make in recent years.
Considering Dortmund had lost Erling Haaland this summer when Manchester City activated the prolific striker’s £51m release clause, the Bundesliga club never had a chance to sell Bellingham in the same transfer window. Thus Liverpool planned to lay the framework for a deal in 2023.
Liverpool’s midfield needed reinforcements last season despite their chase of a quadruple, which collapsed in the season’s final week. Klopp’s central midfielders have been productive in recent seasons, but they are either too old or too injury-prone to be a long-term solution. Fabinho is Liverpool’s only midfielder (28).
Players
Thiago Alcantara (31), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (26), and captain Jordan Henderson (32), all of whom have dealt with injuries this season (29).
Although James Milner, a former England international, has a great fitness record for his age (36), he is no longer in his prime. In the meantime, Naby Keita (27) and Curtis Jones (21) have not been readily available due to health concerns.
Despite their promising early careers, Klopp can’t count on either Harvey Elliott (19) or Fabio Carvalho (20) as stalwarts.
Also young, Bellingham has already racked up over 100 senior appearances for Dortmund and another 17 for England despite being 19 years old.
ESPN
Many believe he will become one of the game’s best midfielders and a future England captain, so it is no surprise that Man City, Man United, and Chelsea are all interested in signing him next summer, as reported by ESPN.
Who exactly needs Bellingham the most is open to debate. Liverpool’s midfield problems make him a prime transfer target, although he would also be much sought after by Manchester United and Chelsea.
Despite having Rodri and Kalvin Phillips already on the roster, City will compete for Bellingham because of the positive impact he may have on Pep Guardiola’s squad.
A switch to Liverpool felt like a no-brainer for Bellingham just a few months ago. They are the only team in recent Premier League history to threaten City, and they have advanced to the finals of the Champions League three times in the last five years. They have a rich winning tradition and are a club with international fame.
Yet, Klopp’s squad has gotten off to a poor start to the current campaign. They’ve only won two Premier League games and are 11 points behind leaders Arsenal; they’ve also trailed at some time in seven of their nine games overall, a figure that speaks to their unreliability.
They have only scored first once, a 9-0 victory over Bournemouth. Also, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk, and Mohamed Salah have been significantly less than stellar recently, and Nunez has scored only once in the Premier League club record acquisition.
Liverpool has two big weeks ahead of them, with games against Rangers in the Champions League and Arsenal and Man City in the Premier League. The early season struggles will be forgotten if they can recover their best form, but Klopp struggles to accept that outcome.
Anfield would be less enticing to Bellingham, who will have no shortage of offers if the club continued to struggle and strive for Champions League qualifying with a midfield that requires substantial surgery. Therefore, Liverpool needs to end its slump immediately. If this keeps happening and they fail to achieve their primary goal, the reconstruction process will be far more complex.