The 19-year-old Bellingham is widely regarded as the club’s top transfer target for the 2019 summer transfer window, so reports of Liverpool’s interest in him are not difficult to come by.
Even though Borussia Dortmund are aware that they “can’t afford to fight financially” for the midfielder, he will still seek a sizable sum.
However, that will also apply to Liverpool since any transfer will likely cost more than £90 million, a sum that many believe will rise given how well he performed in his World Cup debut.
With a perfectly timed header, Bellingham gave England the lead. He then dominated in the middle of the field, finishing with a passing accuracy of 96.8.
As they continued to watch, Liverpool fans all said the same thing.
Real Madrid and Manchester City are both said to be interested in signing him, so Liverpool isn’t the only team with a vested interest.
The first of England’s six goals against Iran came from Bellingham. The other goals came from ex-Red Raheem Sterling, Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford, and Jack Grealish.
Jordan Henderson and Trent Alexander-Arnold were not given any playing time; instead, Gareth Southgate substituted Rashford, Eric Dier, Grealish, Phil Foden, and Callum Wilson off the bench.
Bellingham sends Liverpool SPECIAL transfer message with ‘England masterclass’ in World Cup
Liverpool target for a transfer Jude Bellingham stole the show as England kicked off their World Cup campaign in a decisive manner.
So much for them being disrespectful in their Steven Gerrard comparisons.
Jude Bellingham declared the Liverpool midfielder to be his national team idol as a child in a press conference prior to England’s World Cup opener against Iran in Qatar on Monday. However, he distanced himself from being compared to the legendary Anfield player.
Bellingham, however, only needed 35 minutes to prove to the world why he is compared to Gerrard and why Liverpool and their fans would dearly like the 19-year-old to follow in his footsteps.
When the ball was passed to Luke Shaw on the left, England had just begun to press the stubborn Iranian defense. The Manchester United player then delivered a cross into the box, which Bellingham, who was advancing from deep, met with an unorthodox header that looped high into the goal for England’s first goal since Michael Owen in 1998. It was Bellingham’s first international goal.
The strike was similar to Steven Gerrard’s infamous goal in the 2005 Champions League final, even though it didn’t quite have the same impact. There were other such cues, not the least of which was Harry Kane’s aggressive forward run, which gave him the opportunity to cross for Raheem Sterling, an ex-Red, to score England’s third goal.
Indeed, it’s simple to understand why Jurgen Klopp is such a fan and would be willing to approve a high-profile transfer for Bellingham in the near future. The teenager displayed excellent play from the opening to the final with an energetic, successful, and impressive midfield performance.
Liverpool is obviously not the only team with interest. While Chelsea and Manchester City have also been snooping around, Real Madrid has been strongly linked. Others definitely exist.
Bellingham moved to Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2020, and the team has already made it clear they expect him to leave sooner rather than later. And should they continue to put on performances of this caliber, they may decide to start making money as early as January. The Liverpool hiring staff must be vigilant.
However, there was another potential midfield option on display in case Bellingham remains out of reach (and given some of the eye-watering sums bandied about, that wouldn’t be entirely surprising).
Declan Rice, the captain of West Ham United, doesn’t quite have the same attacking flair, but his passing ability and defensive prowess would make him a long-term replacement for players like Fabinho and Jordan Henderson.
Even though he doesn’t have Champions League experience on his resume, at age 23, he has more international experience than Bellingham and is similarly positioned for a move to a bigger club.
This was an early declaration of intent from the pair and the England team as a whole, even though evaluation of their individual performances must be tempered by the fact that they were up against an Iran team that was disrupted early on by the loss of their first-choice goalkeeper.
This was the perfect confidence booster before tougher tests; their 6-2 victory was England’s best result in an opening World Cup finals match. They entered the tournament coming off a six-game losing streak.
Not since 1986 has England begun a World Cup without a contribution from an Anfield representative, with Liverpool duo Henderson and Trent Alexander-Arnold among those who sat on the bench at the Khalifa International Stadium, where Klopp’s team won the Club World Cup three years ago.
However, Reds supporters will be hoping that at least one future Liverpool favorite made a significant contribution. Over the next month, it will be important to keep an eye on Bellingham and Rice.