John Aldridge has implored Liverpool’s owners to ensure that Jude Bellingham is signed if his heart is set on a move to Anfield.
The 19-year-old has been strongly linked with the Reds for some time now, although David Ornstein reported for The Athletic on Monday morning that such a transfer seems ‘increasingly unlikely’.
Despite his signing potentially costing more than £130m (as per Ornstein for the Walk On podcast), one of the club’s former strikers believes FSG cannot afford to pass up an opportunity to sign the Borussia Dortmund star if he wants a move to Merseyside.
In his column for the Liverpool Echo, Aldridge wrote in relation to Bellingham: “If the lad wants to come to Anfield, that is the first priority. He has openly admitted Steven Gerrard is his hero and the club have to find a way to go and get him.
“Manchester City and Chelsea can afford to buy him and we have to be able to do the same. If he doesn’t want to come because of the situation we’re in with the Champions League, there’s nothing we can do about it.
“But if he were to come out and say Liverpool is his preference and then we don’t sign him, the fans won’t stand for that and there will be huge pressure on FSG. He is the number one target in most people’s eyes and we need reinforcements in that area.”
READ MORE: Kenny Dalglish says 17-year-old starlet ‘looks the part’ but needs ‘a chance to breathe’
Interestingly, Football Insider claimed over the weekend that Liverpool would be Bellingham’s preferred destination whenever he moves on from Dortmund.
If that is indeed the case, Aldridge is quite right to implore FSG to do everything in their power to give the 19-year-old his wish.
Even if fellow suitors Real Madrid and Manchester City (The Athletic) were in a position to offer the teenager a chunkier pay packet than the Reds, hopefully the Anfield hierarchy could capitalise on any desire from the player to choose Merseyside over all other prospective destinations.
Amid the abundance of reports about Bellingham’s next move, only he knows for sure where he’d most like to go upon leaving Dortmund.
If his heart is set on Liverpool, that is the selling point upon which FSG must pounce.