Liverpool should sign Declan Rice over Jude Bellingham: Tony Cascarino

Former Chelsea striker Tony Cascarino has advised Liverpool to prioritize a move for Declan Rice over his England teammate Jude Bellingham.

The Reds are in desperate need of reinforcements and have been linked with a summer move for Bellingham, who is also attracting interest from Manchester City and Real Madrid.

As cited by Anfield Watch's Twitter account, Cascarino claimed Rice would be a better addition to the Liverpool midfield despite Bellingham being an 'excellent' player.

"If the option is between Jude Bellingham and [Declan] Rice, Liverpool should go for the latter. Bellingham is an excellent player but Rice solves the problems Liverpool are having.

"He would provide a platform enabling those around him to shine. Fabinho and Jordan Henderson have looked off the pace, with their ability to turn the ball over, make tackles and interceptions having fallen away.

"As a result, Liverpool's midfield has been easy to run through, but Rice is not a player who lets opponents pass him often."

ANFIELD WATCH VERDICT

Jude Bellingham is one of the most sought-after players in world football and Liverpool desperately need some fresh legs in the center of the park. While Cascarino has a point, Liverpool can always prioritize a move for Bellingham to play as one of the free #8s in a 4-3-3 and look to sign a defensive midfielder to deputize for Fabinho.

Declan Rice is obviously a fantastic player in his own right, but Liverpool have chased Bellingham for too long for them to pull the plug on the deal at the last hurdle. This is probably wishful thinking, but the Reds clearly need at least two fresh faces in midfield this summer, so could we see them make moves to sign Rice as well as Bellingham? The double deal would set us back by about £200 million, so I wouldn't bet on it.