Liverpool have reached a verbal agreement for the transfer of Rennes centre-back Jeremy Jacquet, worth up to £60 million.
The 20-year-old, who Chelsea have been trying to sign, is set to move to Anfield in the summer.
According to the report, Liverpool agreed to pay a fixed fee of £55m plus a potential £5m in performance-related add-ons. Jacquet is set to have his Liverpool medical in England on Deadline Day.
Chelsea offered exactly the same deal as Liverpool, but over the past 48 hours, when it became apparent that Mamadou Sarr would be returning to Chelsea and Josh Acheampong was staying, the player changed his mind and decided to move to Liverpool.
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It is believed he is likely to play more regularly there in the long term, as Chelsea’s squad is overloaded with young centre-backs.
The Blues currently have Trevoh Chalobah, Wesley Fofana, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Axel Disasi, Aaron Anselmino and Jorrel Hato in their first-team squad. Levi Colwill could return from injury before the end of the season, and Sarr is set to return from his loan at Strasbourg.
Liverpool are not as blessed with options at centre-back. Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate are their only fit senior players in that position, with Joe Gomez and Giovanni Leoni injured.
Konate’s contract expires at the end of the season, and he could leave for free in the summer. Jacquet was signed after Liverpool’s Deadline Day move for Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace last summer collapsed at the last minute.
Man City signed Guehi from Palace for £20m in this transfer window, six months before his contract expired. Liverpool were keen on him in the summer on a free transfer, but not at the price City paid in January.
