LIVERPOOL are preparing a £6 million bid to sign Craig Bellamy from Blackburn Rovers after securing a deal to loan Djibril Cissé to Marseilles. It was thought that the Merseyside club’s hopes of loaning out Cissé had been jeopardised by the broken leg suffered by the player on the eve of the World Cup finals, but it emerged last night that a loan deal to offload the France forward to Marseilles had been provisionally secured.
Rafael Benítez, the Liverpool manager, has been considering Bellamy as a potential signing for the past two months, aware that a get-out clause in the Wales forward’s contract with Blackburn allows him to speak to any club offering £6 million for his services.
That clause is understood to be open until June 30 but Liverpool have already made their move, with Benítez deciding that the former Newcastle United forward has the blend of pace and skill to bring a greater goal threat to an attack that was Liverpool’s weakness last season.
Blackburn hope that the guarantee of Uefa Cup football will prompt Bellamy to reject Liverpool’s overtures but they are all but resigned to losing him. Liverpool, who are also close to securing a deal for Daniel Alves from Sevilla, may offer Florent Sinama-Pongolle as a makeweight in the deal for Bellamy after he impressed on loan to Blackburn last season.