Former PL star believes European giants forced Liverpool’s hand in Bellingham pursuit

Stephen Warnock believes Real Madrid interest in Jude Bellingham ended Liverpool FC’s pursuit

Former Liverpool defender Stephen Warnock, while speaking to Sky Sports News, believes Liverpool pulled out of the race for Jude Bellingham due to interest from Real Madrid.

Bellingham had been one of the primary targets for Liverpool this season and every report appeared to hint at all the eggs being put in one basket to secure the player’s signature.

However, some weeks ago, it was said that Liverpool pulled out of the race for Bellingham due to the huge fee involved. It was a dagger in the chest for a club that has been after the player for years now.

Warnock believes that Liverpool were wary of Madrid’s interest in the player and therefore were left with no option but to pull out of the race.

“When Liverpool pulled out of the race, it was almost due to the fact they knew that Bellingham might go to Real Madrid.

You can’t deny him going to Real Madrid, it is a magnificent club. It is steeped in history, tradition and everything about it.”

It does seem like Bellingham is Madrid bound which brings us to the question of why the club had to wait one year on a target, only for it to miss out on him at the crucial stage.

This is bad planning stemming from the top. The recruitment team should have foreseen the circumstances considering it was a World Cup year and his price was bound to go up.

Warnock does make an interesting point about Aurien Tchouameni, who was a reported Liverpool target before making the switch to the Spanish capital.

“I think it frees up Aurelien Tchouameni, he’s not played as much football as he would have liked at Real Madrid. Will Liverpool go back in for him?”

Tchouameni had a good start to his career at Madrid but has fallen down the pecking order as the season progressed. With Bellingham also being added to the ranks in addition to Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, Fede Valvedere and Eduardo Camavinga, there might be an opportunity for Liverpool to test Madrid’s resilience in keeping hold of Tchouameni.

Tchouameni is a highly rated prospect and while his first year at Madrid has not been good, there is no doubt of the huge potential that he possesses.

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He could be a very like-to-like substitute for Bellingham and Klopp would be keen to reunite with the French international, having missed out on him in the first attempt.

It remains to be seen how we will proceed with our targets once the summer window begins and it is pretty definite that Bellingham will not be one of those names involved.