Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher has taken his former club to task after the revelation that the pursuit of Jude Bellingham is over for now.
News emerged in midweek that the Reds had cooled interest in the teenage England international, who was widely touted as the top target ahead of a summer rebuild.
After months of feverish speculation over a potential big-money move, club sources now claim Jurgen Klopp and his recruitment team have decided to spread spending in the next transfer window across several signings.
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A poor campaign which has exposed squad deficiencies and a likely lack of Champions League football have apparently led to plans changing.
Carragher, writing in his Telegraph column today, says that trust needs to be restored at Liverpool after the erosion of a transfer market reputation that was previously "the envy of Europe".
Carragher said: "That trust has gone with news they will not be pursuing Jude Bellingham this summer. It must be won back in the next transfer window because Klopp, his recruitment team and owners Fenway Sports Group have been granted a free pass for the dire performances of the last eight months, especially away from home."
The Sky Sports pundit added: "The discontent that I and many Liverpool supporters felt when the Bellingham revelation emerged on Tuesday evening is about the realisation the entire season has been a write-off based on a false pretence – that the money was there to go big on a stellar player as it was with Van Dijk, while still adding further necessary reinforcements to go again.
"How can the club suddenly baulk at a valuation exceeding £100 million? They know that is the going rate for the best in class.
"What really infuriates me is the red herring that Liverpool have reached the conclusion Bellingham is too expensive on the basis of Klopp’s rebuild being bigger than initially thought. The club knows the elephant in the room is failing to sign a ready-made central midfielder last summer.
"What looked like a terrible mistake has become a monumental cock-up which has cost the club millions in the Champions League revenues they will lose by finishing outside of the top four, and has sent the team back to where it was just before Klopp’s appointment."
Rounding off his hard-hitting column, Carragher concluded that plenty of fans saw this season's struggles coming due to the lack of midfield reinforcement, and said: "If those in power at Anfield did not, they took their eye off the ball."
At his press conference today ahead of Monday night's trip to Leeds United, Klopp was pressed on details of the Bellingham decision.
The manager said: "You have to work with what you have. We are not children. You wouldn't say as a five-year-old at Christmas you want a Ferrari, you don't say 'that's a good idea'. It's too expensive and you can't drive it.
"Whatever we need and want we try absolutely everything to get it but there are moments when you have to accept it's not possible and step aside and do different stuff."
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