Liverpool has now made it clear it could have afforded the Jude Bellingham transfer fee. But Erling Haaland gives a reason why there is no cause for real regret.
Even when it looked as though Liverpool might get Moisés Caicedo, the gut response of many supporters still featured the name Jude Bellingham. As news broke of the colossal $140m (£110m/€127m) bid from Anfield, the significance of that figure was not lost.
After all, Real Madrid sealed a deal for Bellingham earlier this summer by paying Borussia Dortmund an initial $112m (£88m/€103m). That could rise as high as $145m (£114m/€133m) if all the add-ons are met, but it now seems apparent that such a bid would have been within Liverpool’s financial capabilities.
Indeed, many have hailed Real Madrid’s transfer as among the best business of the summer, given the direction of travel of the midfield market. Just like with Erling Haaland the year before, there have been suggestions that Borussia Dortmund has let a star player go relatively ‘on the cheap.
With Bellingham having been pursued by Liverpool for so long, it is only natural to feel a degree of frustration. The mammoth Caicedo bid does not feel like it sits comfortably with the rationale for backing away from the England star — and Jürgen Klopp even admitted (via the ECHO) that the unanticipated sales of Fabinho and Jordan Henderson altered the equation.
But while those departures have undoubtedly freed up funds, this is more than just a case of unfortunate timing. Liverpool should not be kicking itself over Bellingham.
In Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai, the club has got two elite players for less than the upper bounds of the potential fee paid by Real Madrid. That has fundamentally reshaped a problem area for Klopp, and means that any number six who eventually arrives will get proper protection from a midfield capable of executing the manager’s pressing demands.
Bellingham is rightly praised for his versatility and rounded game, but Liverpool would obviously have been wasting him massively as a number six. Clearly, he would not have been the solution to that issue, and it ultimately makes more sense for FSG to try and funnel a one-off big spend towards that position — where there are fewer elite options.
Even more fundamentally, though, the headline transfer figures that typically make it into the public domain are little more than the tip of the iceberg. The Bellingham ‘bargain’ is deceptive, and Haaland’s move is once again instructive.
In an article examining Chelsea’s spending spree, The Athletic makes an interesting revelation. It claims Manchester City’s move for Haaland might actually be ‘the most expensive player acquisition in English football history’ — with wages, agent payments and a bumper signing-on fee all part of the deal.
Similarly, Bellingham will be on a massive salary at Real Madrid, far in excess of what even Caicedo will command. Like former teammate Haaland, he will likely also have been able to net a hefty signing bonus.
The bottom line is that while Liverpool’s bid for Caicedo might have been in Bellingham territory, the overall package was not. That’s not to say the generational midfielder would definitely have been out of FSG’s financial reach — although Klopp conceded that even the bid for the Brighton star was a ‘stretch’ for the club — but the direct comparison does not stack up.
Nobody wanted Bellingham at Liverpool more than I did. But the Caicedo saga is not the ‘what if’ scenario that it first appears, as Haaland aptly helps to demonstrate
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