Manchester City handed golden opportunity to sign England international following Liverpool collapse

Liverpool may have just handed Manchester City a free-run at England international Jude Bellingham this summer, following a flurry of fresh reports.

Officials at the Etihad Stadium are looking towards a minor rebuild of their central midfield position in the coming months, amid continued uncertainty over a number of their current options.

Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan are both heavily linked with moves away from Manchester City, while Kalvin Phillips has struggled to adapt to the club since joining from Leeds United last summer.

Kevin De Bruyne is also fast approaching the twilight years of his top-level professional career, and so Manchester City bosses will likely already be thinking of a long-term succession plan with regards to the Belgian creator

Borussia Dortmund and England international Jude Bellingham has long been admired by Pep Guardiola and his inner-circle at City, while the understanding in various quarters is that the 19 year-old is viewed as the club’s number one target for their midfield in the coming weeks.

Now, in a significant boost to Manchester City’s hopes of winning the race for yet another Dortmund wonderkid, a flurry of reports have now ruled out one of their main competitors in the pursuit of Bellingham.

According to The Telegraph, Liverpool are now out of the race to sign Jude Bellingham this summer due to the prohibitive cost of a deal, which would require meeting a valuation in excess of £115 million.

That narrows down Bellingham’s options even more, and perhaps leaves Manchester City as his only potential destination should he wish to make the move back to England and star in the Premier League next season.

Alongside the Premier League champions, The Telegraph report that Pep Guardiola’s side are joined by Real Madrid and Paris Saint Germain in courting the player, while Chelsea are also holding in interest – although their all-round struggles makes them significantly less appealing as a destination.

Bellingham is expected to make a final decision on his future in the next few weeks, and with Manchester City awaiting confidently on the sidelines, there is every chance that he could rejoin some of his former teammates in Sky Blue.

City have a strong business relationship with Borussia Dortmund that could also work in their favour when it comes to trying to reach an agreement for Jude Bellingham, following the successful discussions for Manuel Akanji and Erling Haaland last summer.