John Aldridge fires FSG blunt Liverpool message amid £4bn ‘sale’ claim

John Aldridge believes it is not unrealistic for Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group to stump up the cash for Jurgen Klopp to sign Jude Bellingham.

It emerged last week that the Reds had cooled their long-standing interest in the midfielder. With an Anfield rebuild required amid a lacklustre season, at least two additions who can operate in the middle of the park are expected to arrive in the summer transfer window.

As a result, manager Klopp has opted not to spend the majority of his budget on one player in Bellingham - with a package of £130 million mooted for the Borussia Dortmund star.

The decision has undoubtedly left fans disappointed that Liverpool are no longer in the race for one of the most exciting talents in world football.

Aldridge, writing for Sunday World, is aware that FSG operate on a self-sustaining model. But the former Kop striker believes that given how the Reds’ valuation has rocketed from when the American group purchased the club in 2010 to now - suggesting a price tag of £4 billion if they wanted to sell up completely - then Klopp should be armed with the funds to recruit Bellingham.

Aldridge said: “Liverpool appear to have abandoned their chase of Jude Bellingham and this story could now swing in several different directions. We all know that Liverpool’s owners at the Fenway Sports Group work with an alternative financial structure compared to clubs like Manchester City and Chelsea, but this is the summer when things have to change.

“I’m not advocating Liverpool spending £600million on new signings, like Chelsea and their chaotic owner Todd Boehly has done in the last year. Yet we are talking here about owners who purchased the club for £270 million and could probably sell it now for £4 billion.

“By anyone’s calculations, that is a pretty healthy profit and I don’t think it is unrealistic to now ask them to back a move for a player like Bellingham. So the reports that emerged on Tuesday suggesting Liverpool cannot afford a player who appears to be manager Jurgen Klopp’s top target were worrying.

“Borussia Dortmund have every right to ask for a fee in excess of £100 million for a teenager who looks set to be one of the best in European football over the next decade and more. That is a crazy amount of money, but Liverpool need to be ready to do the deal if that is the going rate in the modern market.”

Aldridge believes that it could prove disastrous for Liverpool if Bellingham was instead to link up with 47-goal striker Erling Haaland at Manchester City. And given how Klopp has inflated the price of the Reds, he reaffirmed his belief that FSG must back the German.

Aldridge continued: “FSG need to be worried here and not just about missing out on Bellingham. The problems for the owners will come next season if they fail to give Klopp the money he needs to sign two or three top midfielders this summer. Imagine a scenario where Bellingham links up with his old Dortmund team-mate at Man City and turns them into an invincible winning machine. Meanwhile, Liverpool get some cut-price midfielders in and they have another season like the one they are enduring now.

“If that story was to play out, the fans would turn against the owners and that is only part of the problem. The bigger picture will evolve around Klopp, who needs to be backed now as he looks to get the team back on track. He has helped to make FSG hundreds of millions of pounds in profit in recent years and they will get even more if they sell the club thanks to his brilliance over the last few years.

“Now Klopp seems to have run out of rabbit to pull out of his hat and needs to be helped financially if Liverpool are to get back to winning ways.”