Jurgen Klopp publicly admits Liverpool wanted to sign £88m Real Madrid player last year

Add as preferred source on Google

Jurgen Klopp is perhaps starting to become a little more open in his final months as Liverpool manager.

A feature of Klopp’s tenure at Anfield has been a reluctancy to speak openly about transfer dealings. Indeed, the Liverpool boss tends to treat the whole window like a bit of an inconvenience. But last year, it was clear that the Reds needed to use it.

Ahead of the summer, Liverpool’s big target was widely thought to be Jude Bellingham. In the end, it didn’t happen, Bellingham joined Real Madrid for around £88m. It was a big disappointment for fans, who had long hoped to see the England international in red.

And now, in quotes from The Guardian, Klopp has publicly opened up a little on Liverpool’s attempt to sign Jude.

“We were interested in [Jude] Bellingham but realised it would not happen,” he said, before also touching on failed pursuits for other targets.

“The whole market for No 6s went up. Two No 6s left our club. We thought we could maybe do Caicedo. We’d already done [Alexis] Mac Allister before. So we went in but he [Caicedo] had an emotional agreement already with Chelsea and Pochettino. Lavia had his own reasons.”

Klopp admits Bellingham interest

Okay, Liverpool’s interest in Bellingham was as open a secret you’re ever likely to get in the transfer market. It had been reported on for literal months.

But still, it’s interesting to hear Klopp come out and confirm what we already knew.

Perhaps as he drifts towards the end of his time at the club, we’ll start to hear one or two more nuggets of information from other such scenarios.

With Liverpool and FSG operating under quite strict parameters in the market, there must be other players we went for but couldn’t get done.

In terms of Bellingham himself, well, he’s doing what just about everybody knew he would. Over half-a-season at Madrid, the 20-year-old has become Carlo Ancelotti’s key man.

We’ll never know if his impact at Liverpool would have been the same, or indeed if his arrival could have helped sway Klopp away from his decision to leave.

But what is clear is that the Reds went out and found their own solution. Bellingham would have surely been a superb signing. Looking at their position in all competitions this season though, it’s hard to deduce that Liverpool are missing him too much.

Nevertheless, after such a long pursuit, Klopp’s words will bring frustration for some. Oh, what could have been.