It was the transfer update no Liverpool fan was waiting for. No Jude Bellingham. Not at Anfield. Not this summer.
For months and months, the Borussia Dortmund midfielder has been the Reds’ No.1 target, the player Jurgen Klopp has coveted above all others and the one supporters have craved. Klopp's looking to build a second great team at Anfield, and the idea, the hope, was that Bellingham, young, gifted and with the kind of character which convinces you he’ll be a superstar for years to come, could be its centrepiece, its star.
That won’t be happening. Not now, anyway. Liverpool have accepted that, for numerous reasons, a move for Bellingham is beyond them at this stage, with the 19-year-old now likely to join either Manchester City or Real Madrid, if indeed he chooses to end his three-year stay in Germany. He still has two years left on his Dortmund contract, and they would love it if he signed an extension.
As for the Reds (and their fans) they will now, reluctantly, have to look elsewhere. They know a substantial midfield rebuild is required in the summer window, with at least two, and probably three, new signings needed.
A substantial list of targets has long been drawn up, containing names as diverse as Nicolo Barella, the Inter and Italy star, Chelsea’s Mason Mount and Atalanta’s Teun Koopmeiners, all of which sat below Bellingham’s.
There are, as Klopp has pointed out, plenty of good midfield players out there, but Liverpool’s failure to land their top target still represents a sizeable blow, and not just to supporters. After a dreadful campaign, in which they have fallen miles off the pace domestically and look unlikely even to qualify for next season’s Champions League, the Reds needed a perfect summer, recruitment-wise, in order to correct the slide and reassure fans that this is a club still heading in the right direction.
It’s only April, but that is already starting to look a tall order.
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