McCartney and Lennon wrote ‘you’re waiting for someone to perform with, and don’t you know that it’s just you, hey Jude, you’ll do.
Jude Bellingham will more than do. Reds, Madridstas and a few other football fans have long been waiting for the merest of hints of the players next destination. Agents Henderson and Alexander – Arnold did nothing to quell the constant speculation.
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But the ‘pursuit’ of Bellingham poses a wider question for Liverpool fans, not just for this player, but others. FSG are seeking further investment at minimum, the club could also possibly be sold, so will the owners continue to enhance the squad?
With the asking price for BVB’s number 22 being muted at over £100 million, would FSG break the habit of a lifetime and outlay a vast sum of money while they are looking to sell the club? File that thought under fragile hope.
With no asset to sell, only players to gently show the door while totting up the salary savings, it’s fanciful to suggest that Dortmund’s prized asset will arrive on Merseyside with FSG deploying their typical transfer strategy.
But there is hope. Should John Henry and co land Bellingham and enhance the squad, it could signal to any potential suitors that the squad has been enhanced, the club’s future is being taken seriously. Marry this with long-term contracts for star players, a new training ground and improvements to Anfield, and any purchase starts to stack up. Landing England’s stand-out player in Qatar would be the ultimate form of window dressing.
And let’s be honest, the club needs to land a transfer of that magnitude. The midfield needs revitalising, the players need to the competition for places and the manager needs to feel like he’s being backed again.
So even if a new buyer has not been found right now, no harm will have been done by capturing a genuine talent. It enhances the FSG’s investment and energises the playing staff.
FSG will continue to invest, it makes sense. But with Julian Ward set to leave only months after Michael Edwards, these are unsettled times for Liverpool. The very people capable of completing a deal of such magnitude have thrown their employers a curveball.
But what is football without hope, without dreams? The Kop in full voice over their new star player, the English player returning to these shores, bossing the turf of Anfield. Imagine.
