Jude Bellingham showed why Liverpool want him in a performance Pep Guardiola described as ‘exceptional’ during Borussia Dortmund’s narrow 2-1 defeat to Manchester City in the Champions League group-stages, via the Liverpool Echo.
The Birmingham-born midfielder was only 15 months old when Wayne Rooney marked his Man United debut with a European hat-trick against Fenerbahce in September 2004.
And, at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night, Bellingham overtook the former Three Lions skipper as the most prolific English teenager ever to play Champions League football. That instinctive header, from a clever Marco Reus delivery, was his fifth goal in the competition already.
But it wasn’t just Bellingham’s nose for goal that had Guardiola raving about a player who has made colossal strides since breaking through at St Andrews.
Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham is Liverpool’s number one midfield target
“I was impressed when he was 17. Imagine (what I think about him) now that he’s 19!” Guardiola said after a hard-fought comeback win from a City side inspired once again by the instinctive genius of Erling Haaland; the Terminator reborn in human skin.
“(Bellingham) grew up so (much). Defensively, he’s able to follow (Ilkay) Gundogan or Kevin (De Bruyne) in the pockets and win the duels.
“So he’s an exceptional player. I think everyone knows it. Not because the manager of Manchester City is going to tell you. Everybody knows it.”
Jurgen Klopp certainly does.
Plans are already underway to make Bellingham the most expensive acquisition in Liverpool’s storied history during the summer of 2023, according to the Daily Mail. Bellingham, who could set the Reds back around £100 million, is Klopp’s number one midfield target.
“That would be a hell of a signing,” says Danny Murphy, a UEFA Cup winner with Liverpool in 2001.
“It would change the dynamic of the midfield. In terms of that he’s an attacking, goalscoring midfielder. He’s a super player. Some of the attributes he’s got for such a young man…
“I liked his celebration when he scored (against Copenhagen in matchday one). As if to say; ‘Here I am, look at me’.”
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