Looking at when Liverpool pulled out, it was mentioned they could probably sign Mount, Madison and Lavia or similar for the same as they'd have spent on Bellingham. Considering their current midfield, that makes more sense.
Whilst Bellingham may be the one changing their mind here, it might not be a bad thing If we're losing Gundogan and Bernardo, KdB is never going to be able to play a full season of 90 minutes and it'll get less in coming years and hard to know what the behind the scenes opinion is on Phillips for next season although clearly not trusted this, it feels like we need more than one midfielder. I could see Grealish or Foden moving inside, but that means another winger unless Palmer was ready but either way, we need at least a couple.
I can live with Bellingham staying abroad, as only a treat in the CL, so we just need to find the players to improve the first team and squad