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Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp did not want to speak at any length about the increasing price tag of 19-year-old sensation and transfer target Jude Bellingham.
But Klopp was more than happy to heap praise of Bellingham, who he described as “just exceptional” while speaking to reporters ahead of the Premier League’s resumption.
“I don’t like to talk about money when you talk about a player like him,” Klopp said of Bellingham, who is tipped to leave Dortmund next summer for a fee in excess of £100 million ($A180m).
“If you mention to someone who has no clue about football or who knows about football and has not watched it for a while: ‘How old do you think Jude Bellingham is?’
“I don’t think anyone would get even close to his age. They would say 28 or 29 because he plays so mature. He played an exceptional World Cup. Absolutely exceptional.”
Liverpool is one of four leading contenders for Bellingham’s signature alongside Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City.
However, Dave Ockop reported on Monday morning that Liverpol is understood to have put in a “large amount of groundwork” into a potential transfer for Bellingham.
ARTETA’S TRANSFER PLEA TO ARSENAL
Mikel Arteta has urged Arsenal to make January signings “as quick as possible” as the Premier League leaders look to carry on from where they left off by winning their first title since 2004.
The Gunners were in superb form, with 12 wins from 14 matches, when the league was paused in unprecedented fashion to allow for the first World Cup held in a northern hemisphere winter to take place in Qatar.
All season long, fans and pundits have been debating whether the break will be a help or a hindrance to clubs’ ambitions, with Arsenal now without Gabriel Jesus after he was sent home early from the World Cup with a knee problem sustained in Brazil’s shock defeat by Cameroon.
Arteta, however, was in buoyant mood ahead of his side’s return to Premier League action against London rivals West Ham at the Emirates on Monday.
“You know, I want the team to play a certain way, and the more consistent we are on that the more we are going to win,” he told Sky Sports.
“There is excitement, and we should be excited and we should be embracing the opportunity that we have ahead of us.”
Arsenal are currently five points clear of reigning champions Manchester City and while Arteta has long maintained they will be “active” in the transfer window, he believes they need to act as soon as possible.
“We knew the importance of getting players early in the summer and that is the same we want to do in January,” Arteta added.
“This is idealistic. Sometimes it is not realistic. But obviously, if you ask my opinion, as quick as possible we want the players in to get settled.”
Shakhtar Donetsk winger Mykhaylo Mudryk is reportedly a priority signing for Arsenal.
