It had been previously thought, for a long while that Liverpool FC were in pole position to land Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham. While it is always difficult to truly assess who is “winning” a transfer derby, until the player is actually signed, sealed and delivered, the Reds seem to have definitively fallen behind here.
The England national team star, who impressed at the World Cup, will want to sign with a team that is playing UEFA Champions League football next season, and right now, the Reds are on the outside looking in when it comes to top four.
It is being reported now that Real Madrid and Manchester City are the favorites now, with the Athleticโs David Ornstein claiming that Liverpool, after having been close to almost certainly signing him for months, are pretty much out of the running for the 19-year-old prodigy.
According to ESPN FC, City are actually pretty confident that they will sign Bellingham when all is said and done. No matter how it all ends, the battle for Bellingham will be one of the top narratives this summer silly season. Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Manchester United are all said to be interested, or at least they were, up until recently.
In the end, it will likely come down to who can spend more between Man City and Madrid, and if Erling Haaland, who made the move from Dortmund to The Etihad last summer, will be extremely effective in recruiting. No matter what happens, BVB maintain that they will hold firm on their transfer fee demand.
Liverpool, who kind of basically put all their eggs in one basket on this, are said to already be moving on to other midfield targets and fall back options.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager ofย The Sports Bank.ย Heโs also theย author of โTransatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,โ andย โNo, I Canโt Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.โ
Heโs written for numerous publications, including theย New York Daily News,ย Sports Illustratedย and theย Chicago Tribune.ย He regularly appears onย NTD Newsย andย WGN News Now.ย Follow the websiteย onย Twitterย andย Instagram.
