Jordan Henderson has suggested that Liverpool should have coughed up to sign Jude Bellingham this summer.
The Reds were heavily linked with a move for Bellingham over the better part of two years. But with funds needed elsewhere, the 20-year-old joined Real Madrid instead.
Having built up a great relationship with Bellingham during their time with England, Henderson was seemingly actively trying to recruit the then Borussia Dortmund player.
And speaking to The Athletic yesterday, the 33-year-old suggested as much, and admitted that Liverpool should really have signed him.
“Maybe not to the owners but you can probably think of certain players that I might have tried for in the past, especially recently!” Henderson said, when asked if he ever asked for FSG to sign a player.
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“Which looking back now, he’s on fire so (laughing) I might have thought we should have just paid the money!”
With five goals in his opening four La Liga games for Madrid, Bellingham is certainly having a good time of it. The one that got away.
Henderson admits Bellingham wish
It’s no surprise to hear that Henderson pushed hard for Liverpool to sign Bellingham. Both he and Trent Alexander-Arnold seemed fully invested in bringing the midfielder to Anfield.
So too, were most of the Reds fanbase. And although it’s early days, the England international is already showing exactly why in Madrid.
In fact, that initial £88.5m that Los Blancos paid Dortmund for his services is currently looking like a real bargain.
Perhaps Liverpool should have just stumped up the money after all.
Of course, there is another side to this. It seems likely that the Reds eventually weren’t in a position of strength where Bellingham was concerned. His mind was seemingly set on Madrid for a while.
Additionally, Liverpool are arguably better off having spread their transfer budget across three or four signings. Had Jude come in, it would have been a struggle to sign the other, quality players we also needed.
Instead, Liverpool brought in Dominik Szoboszlai, Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Wataru Endo for a combined fee of around £145m. With Bellingham’s price rising to around £115m with add-ons, maybe time will show that the Reds were right not to push harder.