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Liverpool first attempted to sign Jude Bellingham a decade ago, it has been revealed.
Bellingham, 19, is one of the most highly rated young players in European football after continuing to impress for Borussia Dortmund this season.
Liverpool have been strongly linked with a move for the England international, who is under contract with Dortmund until the summer of 2025.
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According to The Athletic, the Bundesliga club will set a huge asking price of around £131m for Bellingham next summer.
Should Liverpool - or any other club - meet their valuation, it would be a new record fee for a British player, which is currently the £100m fee paid by Manchester City for Jack Grealish in 2021.
It has now been revealed that Liverpool attempted to sign Bellingham for just a fraction of that price back in 2012.
The Athletic claim that when Bellingham was nine, he and his family were first approached by Liverpool over a potential move to Merseyside.
Bellingham, who was playing for Birmingham's U11 team at the time, had a two-day trial at Liverpool.
According to The Athletic's James Pearce, Bellingham "made a lasting impression on staff, not only with his ability but with his maturity as he took part in a training session and was given a tour of the facilities".
Liverpool had hoped to convince Bellingham and his family to relocate from the Midlands and would have needed to pay around £9,000 in compensation to Birmingham.
But they failed in their bid to sign the midfielder, with his family opting against the move.
Manchester City and Chelsea also failed in their own attempts to sign the youngster, who would go on to become Birmingham's youngest ever first-team player in 2019 when he made his senior debut aged just 16 years and 38 days.
Bellingham would later move to Dortmund in 2020 for an initial £25m fee, making him the most expensive 17-year-old in history.
Birmingham would retire his No 22 shirt following his move to German football "to remember one of our own and to inspire others".
He has since gone on to score 13 goals in 100 games for Dortmund and is now viewed as the most valuable player in the Bundesliga by transfermarkt.com.
Bellingham is currently away on international duty with England, who face Italy and Germany in the Nations League this month.
SPORTbible Stories is the brand-new podcast from the SPORT team at LADbible. The first episode features a chat with former Burnley manager Sean Dyche as he opens up on his departure from Turf Moor, what the future holds and the amazing story of the spin wheel for fines while in charge of the Clarets. You can watch the first episode here.
Featured Image Credit: Alamy
Topics: Liverpool, Jude Bellingham, Football, Borussia Dortmund, Premier League, Bundesliga, Transfers
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