Bellamy hopes to follow a great Welsh tradition at Anfield

"It's a good move, Liverpool have been looking for someone with pace and Craig certainly fits the bill," the Wales and Anfield great told BBC Sport.

"He was the main reason Blackburn made Europe. Mark Hughes did a great job in getting the best out of him, hopefully Rafael Benitez can do the same.

"Obviously being Welsh I'm pleased, he adds to a great tradition at the club."

Bellamy, 26, will be following in the footsteps of current national manager John Toshack, Rush and Dean Saunders as Welsh frontmen at Anfield.

"On different days you have got to have different options and the only option Liverpool didn't have was pace," said Rush.

As I'm a fan, it doesn't matter what club I was at. I could never turn Liverpool down Craig Bellamy

"They've got the height of Peter Crouch, Fowler's skilful, and now, with Bellamy, they've got all the options. Let's see what they can do between them."

Bellamy completed his move - thought to be in the region of �6m - on Thursday.

The Cardiff-man started his career at Norwich before joining Coventry for �6.5m in August 2000.

He switched to Newcastle for �6m the following year, but a huge feud with manager Graeme Souness saw him farmed out on loan to Celtic in January 2005.

Former Wales manager Hughes brought him to Ewood Park on a four-year deal last summer where the striker proved a huge success, scoring 17 goals in 26 league and cup starts.

But Bellamy says that he has always dreamed of playing for Liverpool and could not resist the lure of the Reds.

"The fact that it was Liverpool made it impossible for me to turn them down.