Steven Gerrard has lauded the qualities of Liverpool target Jude Bellingham and believes he "ticks all the boxes" for the Reds.
The 19-year-old has established himself as the hottest prospect in world football and has already had a pricetag of up to £150m slapped on him. Bellingham showcased his skills with England during the World Cup last year and although they failed to make it beyond the quarter-finals, the Borussia Dortmund man came away with a host of admirers.
Liverpool have faced scrutiny and criticism over their midfield, of late, and Jurgen Klopp has already hinted at a summer rebuild.
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Speaking to BT Sport ahead of Liverpool's showdown with Chelsea, Gerrard expressed his admiration for the midfielder - widely tipped to follow in his footsteps.
"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."
Rio Ferdinand quipped: "You sold it pretty well there." To which Gerrard replied: "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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