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News Britannia: Liverpool to sign defender; Mahrez update
Jurgen Klopp has lined up Newcastle’s Georginio Wijnaldum to bolster his midfielder, while the Liverpool boss is also close to bringing in defensive reinforcements.
Liverpool have been attempting to sign a central midfielder all summer but have been thwarted in their pursuits of Borussia Monchengladbach’s Mahmoud Dahoud and Piotr Zielinski of Udinese
And according to The Times and The Daily Telegraph, the Reds are now set to bid £20million for Holland international Wijnaldum, with the 25-year-old likely to leave Newcastle following the club’s relegation to the Championship.
Tottenham and Everton are also understood to be interested in Wijnaldum but Liverpool have already held informal talks and a deal could be concluded as early as this week.
Meanwhile, Ragnar Klavan is poised to arrive at Anfield in a £4.2million deal from Augsburg.
The 30-year-old, who played against Liverpool in the Europa League last term, will act as cover for the injured Mamadou Sakho.
The Daily Telegraph report that Klopp may still look to sign another central defender following the departures of Kolo Toure and Dejan Lovren, plus the injury to Joe Gomez.
ALL THE RUMOURS – Powered by Teamtalk
Leicester are confident they can keep hold of Algerian winger Riyad Mahrez, despite interest Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City (Daily Star)
Aston Villa want to sign Sunderland’s Liam Bridcutt, with Carlos Sanchez and Jordan Veretout set to join Marseille (The Sun)
Tottenham have agreed a €13million fee with Marseille for winger Georges-Kevin Nkoudou (The Guardian)
Leicester will use the funds generated from the sale of N’Golo Kante to Chelsea to increase bids for Michael Keane and Robbie Brady (Daily Mirror)
Newcastle are battling with Sporting Gijon to sign Fulham defender Fernando Amorebieta (The Sun)
Euro 2016 winner Cedric Soares is in talks with Southampton over extending his contract at St Mary’s (Daily Star)
Swansea are competing with Lazio in the race to sign West Ham forward Enner Valencia (Daily Mirror)
Fulham are willing to pay £750,000 to land Ipswich centre-back Tommy Smith (The Sun)
Antonio Conte has confirmed that forgotten man Juan Cuadrado is part of his plans at Chelsea (Daily Express)
Burnley will complete deals for Charlton duo Johann Berg Gudmundsson and Nick Pope this week (Daily Mirror)
Norwich are among a number of clubs who want to sign Northern Ireland goalkeeper Michael McGovern on a free transfer (The Sun)
Hal Robson-Kanu will snub offers from clubs in China, plus Watford, Burnley and Swansea, to agree a four-year deal with Hull (Daily Express)
Sunderland midfielder Liam Agnew, 21, is set to join League One outfit Bradford on loan with a view to a permanent move (The Sun)
