Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has admitted that his club have been forced to accept defeat in their pursuit of Borussia Dortmund star Jude Bellingham.
The Reds have been working on a deal to sign the 19-year-old midfielder for years but have been forced to pull out of a race due to the financial numbers that will be involved in the deal.
The Premier League side believes the amount needed for Bellingham is too expensive for a side with limited resources and significant transfer needs elsewhere in the squad.
Dortmund maintains they do not want to sell Bellingham this summer. But if they are forced to sell, it will require at least €150m, which, added to wages and agent’s fees, have seen Liverpool step aside. This has left Manchester City and Real Madrid as the likeliest destinations for the 19-year-old.
Asked about Liverpool’s decision, Klopp told Friday’s press conference: “There’s nothing to say about it, to be honest. If we don’t speak about players we are signing or not signing, why would we now speak about this kind of speculation? Really nothing to say.”
When pressed further about the situation at Liverpool, the German compared his club’s pursuit of Bellingham to a child asking for a Ferrari for Christmas.
“It’s not about Jude Bellingham,” the boss continued. “I never understood why we constantly talk about things we theoretically cannot have.
“We cannot have six players in the summer where everybody is £100m, for example. You have to realise what you can do, and then you have to work with it. ‘How much money do we have available?’, and then you have to work with that. That’s the job we have to do.
“We are not children. Ask a five-year-old what they want for Christmas, and they’ll say a Ferrari. You wouldn’t say that’s a good idea. It’s too expensive, and anyway, you can’t even drive it. That’s how it is. If this kid is then unhappy his whole life because he cannot get a Ferrari, that would be a really sad life. It’s just what you can do, and then you work with that.
“That’s how I’ve always worked. What we need and what we want, we try absolutely everything to get it, but there are moments when you have to accept this or that is not possible for us, so we step aside and do different stuff.”
Liverpool still intends to bolster in midfield and have identified Chelsea’s Mason Mount as an alternative to Bellingham. But the Reds face an anxious wait over the midfielders’ next round of contract talks with Chelsea.
