Liverpool told to cash in on Roberto Firmino and use transfer funds on Jude Bellingham

Liverpool have been urged by Express Sport readers to sell Roberto Firmino and use the money gained to finance a lucrative approach for Borussia Dortmund playmaker and long-term Reds target Jude Bellingham. The Merseyside giants spent wisely earlier this summer to add Darwin Nunez to their ranks, with the Uruguayan forward displacing Firmino as the club’s first-choice striker upon his arrival at Anfield.

Firmino now finds himself even further down the pecking order at Liverpool but started last weekend’s opening-day stalemate at Fulham before he was hooked for Nunez, who went on to score, just minutes into the second half at Craven Cottage. It seems as though most Liverpool fans would be willing to see Firmino move on to pastures new in the not-too-distant future, with 58.4 per cent of Express Sport readers having tipped the Reds to sell up by the end of the window in a survey of 15,890 respondents.

It remains to be seen how much Liverpool would be able to get for Firmino, with the Brazilian maestro only tied down until the end of the current season as things stand. Any fee gained from his potential departure could potentially be used to supplement a bid for Bellingham, which is a scenario that many Liverpool fans would be more than happy with based on the survey results.

The Dortmund midfielder would be a dream signing for 58.8 per cent of respondents after establishing himself as one of Europe’s most talented young players over the last few years. However, it does seem unlikely that Bellingham’s current employers would be prepared to sell him to Liverpool after losing Erling Haaland to Manchester City earlier in the same window.

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The capture of a new central midfielder could well be at the top of Jurgen Klopp’s list of priorities, though, after losing Thiago Alcantara to an injury which is expected to keep the Spaniard out of action for a period of around eight weeks. Naby Keita, Curtis Jones and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are also currently sidelined with problems of their own but the Liverpool boss insisted after Saturday’s draw at Fulham that he will not be drawn into panic-buying to reinforce his squad between now and the end of the summer window.

“We said we don’t need a midfielder because we have enough,” Klopp told reporters. “And we actually have enough, but the problem now is we get punished for something that is not our responsibility really because things like this can happen.

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“Look, a transfer must make sense now and in the long-term. We have eight midfielders, we still have enough midfielders. It is not that we lack midfielders, but it’s just that some of them are injured.

“And I know, part of the football business is now getting nervous. We are not. But this is not a good situation, I don’t like it at all. We have to see how we react to that, but for sure, not panicking.”

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