Liverpool: £125.1m would represent a big risk for Liverpool to pay for Jude Bellingham

Liverpool could be set to take a huge risk when it comes to their approach for Borussia Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham.

Having first burst onto the scene back in the 2019/20 season in the Championship, he’s since moved to the Bundesliga where he has taken his skillset to the next level, even managing to make the move into the England squad for last summer’s European Championship.

These performances have seen his value with the CIES Football Observatory, a group that has developed a powerful econometric approach to assess the transfer value of professional footballers on a scientific basis, be set as high as €150m (£125.1m) – a far cry from the £25m that Borussia Dortmund paid for him back in 2020.

Interestingly, Danny Mills has claimed that Bellingham is ready to move to the Premier League with Liverpool namedropped as a destination, amid reported interest from the Reds.

He stated: “Jude Bellingham is ready to fit in the Premier League now,”

“It will be ultimately up to Jude Bellingham and what he decides to do because he’ll have plenty of options.

“That could be staying at Dortmund for another year and play regularly in the run-up to the World Cup or make a move to somewhere like Liverpool.”

TIF Thoughts on Liverpool chasing after Jude Bellingham…

Whilst Bellingham is still young – and therefore there is plenty of time or him to be developed under Jürgen Klopp into a player for the future – if you are paying that sort of money for a player, he needs to be someone who can hit the ground running straight away.

And at his age, and even with his production levels so far in Germany, it’s not a guarantee that he’ll be able to do that.

Whilst he has experience in English football from his time at Birmingham City, that was in the Championship, and adjusting to the Premier League – a league that Pep Guardiola admits is the toughest league in the world – is something different entirely.

And if he were to arrive with that sort of price tag on his head, there would be extra pressure on him to perform to the levels that Liverpool have set over the years as a result of them challenging for and winning trophies.

That’s not to say that they shouldn’t be looking at him, but they would be wise to try and avoid paying that much to bring him to Anfield.

Interestingly, the scientific and statistical value suggests he could be worth around £24 million more than Borussia Dortmund have quoted for the midfielder, as he reportedly has a price tag of £101 million on his head.

However, FSG have just splashed out on Luis Diaz, who set them back an initial fee of £37 million, which could potentially rise to £49 million. Ibrahim Konate also cost £36 million from RB Leipzig. And, the Liverpool owners have been criticised at times for their lack of spending, so you’d think a £100 million-plus transfer move would seem unlikely, though not impossible.

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