Rio Ferdinand has labelled Steven Gerrard 'Agent Stevie' following his comments on Liverpool target Jude Bellingham.
The Reds are among a host of clubs eyeing a move for the Borussia Dortmund starlet as his future in the Bundesliga becomes unclear. It looks set to be a busy build-up to the summer transfer window.
Bellingham has been one of the standout performers for Edin Terzic's side and created his own piece of history in the Champions League. He was Dortmund's youngest-ever captain during their win over Sevilla and on course to their qualification for the knockout stages, he scored four goals in six appearances.
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Gerrard was a pundit on BT Sport's coverage of Liverpool's clash with Chelsea. The former Reds skipper was asked a number of questions ranging from his time in Premier League management to Jurgen Klopp.
But what was most striking was his praise for the England international, so much so that he joked he'd fly to Germany and speak to the midfielder.
Ferdinand wasted no time in poking fun at the Reds icon, he tweeted: "Agent Stevie making his move for Jude Bellingham before kick off.
"All he needs to do is give me a date in the diary when he’s free and I’ll fly to Dortmund to talk about a move to Liverpool."
"I think the obvious one is Bellingham. What he is doing out there at Dortmund, I'm a huge fan, I think the way he comes across, speaks about the game, his performances that I've seen, he impresses me," Gerrard said.
"He's the obvious one, I do think now that Henderson is adapting his game and covers Trent, Thiago is more a footballer, Fabinho stays, Liverpool lack this running number eight who can run, arrive late, get you goals, has that power, burst who can step aside and leaves them for dead.
"Bellingham ticks all those boxes, he's the obvious one. I think it's important we don't become obsessed with one midfielder, it's Liverpool Football Club, everyone around the world knows Liverpool will be looking, scouting and there's an awful lot of very good midfielders around the world.
"The timing of your question is not fair," Gerrard bit back after the question of whether he'd join the Reds without Champions League football. "Liverpool are in the middle of the table but I'm sure Jude's bright enough to go 'hang on a minute, there's a stand going up here' this is going to be a 60,000 [seater] stadium, they've got one of the best five managers in the world, they've won the Premier League, been in Champions League finals, pay very well.
"Got some fabulous players, they develop players, it ticks an awful lot of boxes but Liverpool are in the middle of the league."
Ferdinand and Joe Cole were alongside the 42-year-old on the touchline and it was the former Manchester United defender who joked: "You sold it pretty well there."
Leading Gerrard to reply: "All he needs to do is send his diary to me, I'll fly to Dortmund, we'll go out for a nice dinner and talk about it."
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