Liverpool’s pursuit of the highly-sought after Jude Bellingham is a transfer tale that has been bubbling for well over a year.
The Borussia Dortmund midfielder has been on the radar of many top clubs, which is a direct result of his mercurial midfield talents.
At just 19, Bellingham has also regularly displayed incredible maturity, making him a prime transfer candidate for clubs such as Real Madrid, Manchester City and Chelsea.
While many top sides have reportedly thrown their hats into the ring, Liverpool remains the frontrunner, with the club said to be ‘obsessed’ with the idea of recruiting the player.
The Reds have even paused a much-required midfield rebuild just to focus on signing the England International, which speaks volumes of how highly Bellingham is regarded at Liverpool.
A reported price tag of £105m+ hasn’t fazed the club either, Liverpool looks dead-set on bringing the midfielder to Anfield.
But with clubs such as Real Madrid, Manchester City and Bayern Munich patrolling the waters as well, the transfer will be far from simple.
It’ll take a herculean effort for Liverpool to finally get their man, and fortunately for them, they’re receiving assistance from some club legends along the way.
The first Liverpool Legend to help with the Bellingham pursuit was none other than club hero Steven Gerrard himself.
The Iconic midfielder offered to take Bellingham out to dinner to coax him into joining, he said –
All he needs to do is send his diary to me. When he’s a free day I’ll fly to Dortmund personally, I’ll take him out to a nice dinner and we’ll talk about it.
Gerrard isn’t only the only Liverpool legend busy with luring Bellingham to Anfield, as last night, fellow Red Jamie Carragher also joined in on the action.
In his efforts to persuade the England International, Carra has struck up a nice repertoire with Bellingham, which was on display during the post-match interview after Dortmund’s win against Chelsea.
Conducted on CBS Sports’ broadcast of the game by pitchside reporter Nico Cantor, Bellingham was roped into a discussion surrounding Carragher’s efforts to convince Cantor to propose to his girlfriend live on-air.
The 19-year-old came to Cantor’s aid and said –
Jamie, do better. Not on Valentine’s day when she’s there come on.
He continued to show his support for Cantor –
I’ve got your back there. You should’ve protected yourself a little more though. Big names in the studio crumbled a bit, but it’s alright.
Carragher, who was seated in the studio alongside Thierry Henry and Micah Richards, took Bellingham’s assessment on the chin and laid out his ulterior motives.
He said –
Ay listen, I want that man in a Red shirt so I’m going to do whatever he tells me to do. So if Jude Bellingham’s got any more advice for me, I’m taking it all day my friend.
He later doubled down on his comments by tweeting out the interview alongside the caption ‘Anything you say (Jude Bellingham)’.
The campaign to make Bellingham a Red is officially underway, first Stevie G now Carra, it’ll be interesting to see if any other Liverpool legends join in and help with the persuasion efforts.