Graeme Souness and Rio Ferdinand agree over Liverpool’s chances of signing Jude Bellingham

Graeme Souness and Rio Ferdinand agree Liverpool are set for bad news in the race to sign England star Jude Bellingham.

The Reds have been heavily linked with a move for Bellingham, who has caught the eye over recent years with Borrusia Dortmund, and his stock has only risen with superb performances at this winter’s World Cup with England.

Bellingham is seen as a potential pillar of Liverpool’s midfield as they look to rejuvinate an ageing midfield, but they face a tough task to sign the 19-year-old, who is set to cost over £100million next summer. A number of Premier League and European clubs are said to be interested in the midfielder, and the financials behind any potential deal are why the Reds will miss out, according to Souness.

“We don’t have enough time [to discuss his quality], he is fabulous and is destined to be a star,” Souness said, as cited by the Daily Mail. “He is getting a fantastic education at Dortmund, next year he will leave and the really big guys will come in, if it’s a bidding war between Man City and Real Madrid, it’s up to the boy where he ends up.

“You see everything a midfielder needs to have in him, wonderfully athletic, great size, it’s hard to pick a fault in him, I think he will be an absolute stars.

“I don’t think he will end up at Liverpool, unless they get new owners we can’t afford him. All the big guys will be after him.”

Meanwhile, Rio Ferdinand also thinks Liverpool could miss out, and to a Premier League rival.

Speaking about the midfielder, Ferdinand said on his Vibe with Five podcast: “Bellingham yesterday, what he done, I’ve not seen a 19-year-old young midfielder come into a tournament and absolutely dominate defensively, retrieving the ball but then deciding the game with the right decision, right pass at the right time. It’s ridiculous. He’s an animal, animal.

“There’s no midfielders for England that I’ve seen in my lifetime doing what he’s doing, running Champions League games at the top level and running World Cup games for England, it’s a joke. He’s anything he wants to be, I’ve spoken to England coaches who had him in youth teams, he’s as good as he is a defensive midfielder as he is attacking midfielder, he can do it all.

“It’ll be interesting to see how his career pans out. Where’s he going? What’s his price now? What is Jude Bellingham’s price now? Where does he go now?

“Pep Guardiola’s signed a new deal, if they don’t win the Champions League this year, he goes there with a mindset ‘I am going to be the man that brings you the Champions League’ that’s how I think he’s moving, that’s how I think he rolls.

“I think he will [go to City], I think he’ll say he’s got a couple of mates there, England boys, ‘I can go Madrid in five years’. I think he thinks ‘listen man, I’m a superstar, I want to go win the league and the Premier League because I’m an English-born boy and then I’ll go Madrid and do the same there in a couple of years. The mad thing is he’s got the chance, the great thing is he has the absolute choice and pick of what he does. There will be clubs queuing up.”