Premier League

Real Madrid set £97m Bellingham cap as Klopp says Liverpool would be ‘stupid’ not to want Dortmund star

Liverpool target Jude Bellingham waves to supporters

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp insists the Reds would be “stupid” not to be interested in Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham.

Bellingham joined Dortmund from Championship side Birmingham City for an initial £25m in 2020 after impressing his debut season for the Blues.

And the England international has gone from strength to strength in Germany and represented his country at the World Cup in Qatar late last year.

His performanaces for club and country has led to lots of interest in his signature with Liverpool, Real Madrid, Manchester United, Manchester City and others all linked.

We are no closer to knowing who Bellingham will join in the summer despite months of rumours but the latest report yesterday said that the 19-year-old has ‘turned a deaf ear’ to an offer from Liverpool.

But Liverpool boss Klopp has admitted that Liverpool would be “stupid” if they “didn’t have him on the screen”.

Speaking to Sport Bild, Klopp said: “Jude is a great player who we obviously know. We would be stupid if we didn’t have him on the screen. But there is nothing more to say about it at the moment.”

When asked if there was truth to Liverpool already meeting up with his representatives, Klopp added: “These things don’t work at all because he’s under contract with Borussia Dortmund and that doesn’t work without consent. So it’s not true.”

Klopp has already commented about Bellingham in recent weeks with the Liverpool boss insisting that the England international is “exceptional”.

He told reporters: “I don’t like to talk about money when you talk about a player like him. Everyone can see he is just exceptional.

“If you mention to someone who has no clue about football, or who knows about football and has not watched it for a while, ‘How old do you think Jude Bellingham is?’, I don’t think anyone would get even close to his age. “They would say 28 or 29 because he plays so mature. He played an exceptional World Cup. Absolutely exceptional.

“With all the things he has and things he can improve, to describe him I would say the things he can do are difficult to learn, and the things he can improve are easy to learn.

“So, yes, he is a really good player. What can I say? I have thought that already for two or three years since he had his breakthrough at Dortmund. Everybody knew already but I have no idea what that means for the money side of it.

“I really think if we all want to do him a favour then we do not…

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