Jordan Henderson urges Liverpool to sign Jude Bellingham

Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson has said it ‘would be amazing’ if the Reds are the club who manage to land rising superstar Jude Bellingham when he leaves Borussia Dortmund.

Having become one of the most sought after players in the world before even his 20th birthday and shortly to reach 200 career appearances for club and country, Bellingham is set to be on the move in either the summer of 2023 or 2024.

Liverpool, Real Madrid and Manchester City are the three clubs at the forefront of the transfer battle, while Manchester United, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain are in the second row holding slightly more distant interest.

As 90min has previously reported, the Bellingham camp has met – with Dortmund’s permission – with Liverpool, Real and City, and all three have presented what they believe to be a compelling argument that the teenage prodigy should choose them as his next club.

Bellingham’s longstanding admiration of Anfield legend Steven Gerrard and his growing relationship with Henderson while on international duty has led to growing speculation that he might prefer to join Liverpool over the others.

“I’m sure he’ll sit down with his family and in the future to decide what route he wants to take. Whatever route that is or whatever club that is, that will be a lucky club to have him. His potential is through the roof, really. He can be as good as he wants to be,” Henderson said this week.

“He's got the right mentality, which is the most important thing. He’s really special and I can't believe his age and his mentality – how he applies himself to training and games…everything. I've never seen it before so I'm pretty confident he'll be a pretty good player for many years to come.”

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Henderson also warned ‘not to apply too much pressure’ and instead let Bellingham ‘just play football, adding, “Every time he puts on an England shirt he grows and is getting better and better.

“There are things he can improve on but the platform and the basis he has got he can go as high as he wants to. I just want him to be the best player he can be. If it ended up being Liverpool that would be amazing. But it’s got to be right for him. Every club you can think will want him.”

When will Jude Bellingham leave Borussia Dortmund?

Dortmund are waiting for Bellingham to tell them the answer to that question. The player has been considering his future for some time but always planned to delay a decision as to whether he will stay put or pursue his next challenge until now – 90min recently revealed that he is set for more talks with the Bundesliga side in the coming weeks.

Real Madrid, Liverpool and Manchester City have all already been in talks with the Bellingham camp to present their plans for him – each of the three European giants feel they have made a compelling case for him to pick their project as his next.

But Dortmund have plans too. Even though his current contract runs until 2025, they want Bellingham to sign a new deal that would make him their highest paid player and secure his future for at least one more year. At that point, a release clause expected to be lower than their current valuation of around €150m would likely facilitate a transfer to a club of his choice in 2024.

Should Bellingham decide that now is the time to go, 90min has reported that Dortmund are standing firm over their valuation and would demand a club record selling fee in excess of the €144m package they agreed with Barcelona when Ousmane Dembele left in 2017.