Earlier this week Empire of the Kop were lucky enough to speak exclusively to Christian Falk and he gave us details on Liverpool’s search for Jude Bellingham, the possible fee and wages involved for the player and updates on our search for a new sporting director: plus any other possible transfer destinations.
You can read the full transcript of our interview below and watch the full video at the end of the article:
What has convinced Jude Bellingham that Liverpool is the best move right now?
“There were many conversations with his father, Mark, and his mother, Denise, agent Mark Bennett was also involved.
“There were many points, one is that I think it was always his plan to go back to the Premier League, going to Germany is a step that many young English players take. [Jadon] Sancho did that in Dortmund and Bellingham saw it, it was a good move, but now they need to see what is the best club for him.
“In Liverpool, you have Henderson, you have Milner and they are of a special age: Thiago is often injured and that is not good, we saw him at Bayern Munich playing very well and it is a shame.
“I think Bellingham sees the possibility that he could be a leader at Liverpool, as soon as he goes there.”
We have seen figures quoted by Florian Plettenberg suggesting a fee of between 100 and 150 million euros (equivalent to approximately 86 to 129 million British pounds). What difference will your family expressing their preference for Liverpool make with the price?
“I think €150m, or £130m, is a benchmark.
“If Bellingham, as we heard, is convinced to go to Liverpool and convinced of Jurgen Klopp, but at the end of the day, he has a contract in Dortmund and Dortmund will not say ‘Yes, we know Jurgen very well and he is a very good guy, so that you can have it 20 million cheaper: we will not accept the offer from Real Madrid and we will not accept the offer from Chelsea or Manchester City!’
“So, no, that won’t work. I heard Liverpool can pay around €100m, around £85 or 86m, that’s not enough at the moment but it’s the start of a [game of] poker – in the end you have to see if the others like City, who are very interested, say they can pay for it – Pep Guardiola is also a very convincing coach when he talks to the players.
“You shouldn’t count on getting it cheaper, but maybe Fenway Sports Group will sell the club and the new owners can put in a little money and the fans will be happy.”
What kind of wages will Bellingham likely demand?
“This is not the big point in these discussions, first it is about where he can play and where he can act.
“I heard that Real Madrid have been informed that talks with Liverpool are a long way off, so you can see that for him, it’s not the first question. [about] money, otherwise Chelsea or PSG, who have also already said they want it, would be in a better position.
“I think he knows he’s young and now he sees that what’s the point [of more money] if you move to England in such a position [that he is currently in] he will not lose this now if he goes to a club and says ‘I want more money but it will be more difficult to play’.
“I think he’s very clear in his head that at first it’s ‘Can I play there?’ [rather than money] and I think Jurgen Klopp did a very good job convincing him.”
Liverpool are looking for a new sporting director and one name that has been linked is Sven Mislintat, is there any truth to these rumors or any names you know?
“Sven Mislintat was the sporting director at VfB Stuttgart, in the past he also worked for Dortmund, as did Jurgen Klopp, but we have heard that there have been no talks with Liverpool.
“There was a little contact, but we heard he won’t be the next sporting director, it’s always good for him because now he’s looking for a job and if you’re connected to Liverpool you have better cards.” [to play] in the next talks, but we hear that at this time: there are no talks that are close to taking place and if there are no more [with Liverpool] then it won’t happen.”
We’ve seen relationship footage between Jude Bellingham, Jordan Henderson, and Trent Alexander-Arnold. What impact did that have on a potential move to Liverpool?
“Sure, help. Jamal Musiala was convinced to play for Germany because of the contact he had with the Bayern Munich players, I spoke to Gareth Southgate about that and he said ‘Yes, it’s a shame the Munich players convinced him!’
“This is always good for Liverpool and I also spoke to Jamal Musiala on this point and asked him if there was any possibility that I could bring him, as one of his best friends, to Munich and he said: ‘No, there is no possibility. I would love to play with him at the club, but I don’t think he will come to Munich and leave the Bundesliga.’
“So you can see it’s the [Liverpool] players, not only Jurgen Klopp, who are doing a good job to get [Bellingham] to the Premier League.”
The million dollar question, will Jude Bellingham play for Liverpool next season? Should we get excited?
“That’s why we wrote it! There is a very, very good chance that the answer is yes!
“Because he would like to be there but in the end the clubs have to talk and Liverpool have to bring the money and Dortmund is, in the end, the club that says yes, or no, or wants to keep him.
“We have seen before with Haaland and the players who always get the money and keep the players.
“In the case of Haaland, there was a termination clause, so they didn’t have much time left, but [Dortmund] can hold on to players if the money isn’t on the table, so you better bring it!”
Are there any other interesting names that Liverpool fans should look out for in terms of future transfers, right now?
“Christopher Nkunku is very linked to Chelsea and also to Josko Gvardiol, but there is a small, small chance that Liverpool could get this player. [Gvardiol]I think he is one of the most exciting players we have in the Bundesliga right now and he is doing very, very well.
“I think defensively you need a bit of help at the moment, so maybe if you get a chance to sign Gvardiol, give it a try.”
Thanks again to Christian for talking to us. You can watch the full interview through our YouTube channel:
EOTK Insider: ???? Liverpool’s two World Cup winners and final 14, ahead of Qatar ????
