‘Everything changed’: Club weren’t going to sign ‘superstar’ if Liverpool went for him – journalist

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Real Madrid thought they had no chance of signing Jude Bellingham until Liverpool pulled out of the race.

Speaking on The Athletic Football Podcast, Guillermo Rai has been giving the inside scoop on Bellingham as he looks set to join Real Madrid in the coming weeks.

Los Blancos look to have sealed a deal for the ‘superstar’, but a few months ago they thought this deal was impossible.

Indeed, Rai says that a member of the Madrid board told him that the Bellingham pursuit was impossible due to the presence of the Reds in the race, but everything changed as reports began to emerge that Liverpool had pulled out of the deal.

Madrid weren’t going for Bellingham

Rai shared how the Bellingham move progressed over time.

“Do you sense that everything changed when Liverpool pulled out?” Rai was asked.

“Of course, a couple of months ago we were talking to an important member of the board. He said to us it’s very similar to Haaland’s case and when we knew that Liverpool were out of the race what we heard was that the message from the club completely changed, they said it was impossible, they could not compete with Premier League teams and now it’s not done, but it’s done soon,” Rai said.

Door opened

Real Madrid know when an opportunity has come knocking, and on this occasion, they’ve taken their chance.

They genuinely believed that Bellingham was out of their reach, but after getting a small sense that he may genuinely be an attainable target, they made their move and are now in pole position.

As for Liverpool, they’ve blown a golden opportunity here. It’s not often that you’re in a position to outmuscle Real Madrid in a transfer race, but that’s the position Liverpool found themselves in earlier this summer only to blow it.

Madrid seem to have got their man.