Report: Liverpool move a genuine possibility for ‘outstanding’ player, could become club’s record signing

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Liverpool won’t be put off by a reported £90m price-tag for Jude Bellingham. That’s according to the Liverpool Echo, who report that a move for the midfielder is “achievable”.

That kind of fee would make Bellingham Liverpool’s record signing. But the Echo claim that Liverpool’s recent spate of new contracts for key players could help them manage the price.

What is amortisation?

Player’s transfer costs are spread out over the length of their contract’s in a process called amortisation. That means that the players’ fee is divided by the years left on their deal.

When Liverpool gave new contracts to Virgil Van Dijk, Fabinho, Alisson and others this summer, they spread their respective transfer fees over more time. This lowered the yearly costs for The Reds, hopefully paving the way for investment this summer.

In relation to Bellingham, the Echo give the example of a £90m transfer fee being spread over a five year contract. This would show on Liverpool’s accounts as £18m per year.

As Liverpool have no concerns over “profit and sustainability breaches”, this is more than manageable. Given the player’s age, an even longer-term contract would also be possible.

Is Bellingham worth the money

Such a high transfer fee is not in-keeping with how Liverpool tend to do business. We are more used to seeing the club pay fees such as the £37.5m spent on Luis Diaz yesterday (BBC Sport).

But Bellingham is a special talent. Aged just 18, he already has over 70 appearances for Borussia Dortmund, as well as 10 England caps.

Jordan Henderson has described him as “outstanding” after playing alongside him for England.

“Even at such a young age he (Bellingham) looks ready to play in the big games. I watch him for Dortmund and the way he performs is outstanding,” said Henderson per bundesliga.com.

Henderson knows a thing or two about playing centre-midfield at the highest level, so if the Birmingham born Bellingham is good enough for him, he’s certainly good enough for us.