Ben Jacobs is ‘confident’ that Liverpool can get several transfers completed early in the summer transfer window after pulling out of the race for Jude Bellingham.
It emerged last week (as per The Times) that the Reds appear to have ended their interest in the Borussia Dortmund star due to the finances which would be involved, despite the Merseyside club being strongly linked with him for a number of months.
However, with fees of £135m being quoted for the England international (The Guardian), one reporter believes the Anfield outfit may instead put that towards multiple signings rather than a single marquee deal.
Jacobs told Fabrizio Romano’s Daily Briefing for CaughtOffside: “Right now Liverpool would rather spend their ‘Bellingham budget’ on a handful of players and, as importantly, get their business done early and with more certainty.
“The other option would be to go all in for Bellingham – a player Jurgen Klopp would still love at Anfield – and find it was either at the expense of strengthening other areas, or just a race they didn’t win.
“My understanding is Liverpool are now pretty confident on some other targets, and quite far along for this stage before the window opens, and that may also have informed why they chose to walk away from Bellingham now.
“I fully expect Liverpool to get multiple deals done early in the summer window. It’s easy to focus on the Bellingham backlash, and I am sure many fans are disappointed, but I would judge Liverpool after the first 2-3 weeks of the window rather than now.”
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When the news about Liverpool seemingly raising the white flag in their Bellingham pursuit emerged last week, it would’ve come as a hammer blow to many supporters, given how he’d been a priority target for the Reds for so long.
However, when you consider what Jacobs has said, that could come with a silver lining in terms of freeing up Jurgen Klopp and FSG to cast a wider net for the same budget.
If the club had gone all-in on the Dortmund midfielder and either missed out on him with no time to bring in alternatives, or signed him only to soon see him ruled out with a long-term injury, that would’ve been calamitous, as the midfield effectively wouldn’t have been strengthened at all.
Instead, if Liverpool are organised and can clinch a couple of deals in the early weeks of the summer transfer window, that could lead to many Kopites moving on from Bellingham and deriving satisfaction over a proactive approach boosting squad depth significantly.