Great news! €55m centre-back wants Liverpool move

Liverpool have taken big steps in recent transfer windows to ensure continuity at the back.

Last summer Giovanni Leoni was signed from Parma for £26m. In January plans were put in place to bring Jeremy Jacquet to the club in summer for a fee of around £60m from Rennes.

Others - such as Mor Talla Ndiaye and Ifeanyi Ndukwe - have also been onboarded for the centre-back position.

With Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez out of contract in 2027 - and Ibrahima Konate departing the club this summer on a free to Real Madrid - there is a risk however that Andoni Iraola will be left short of top-level experience.

That shortfall was temporarily addressed with the loan signing of Ronald Araujo, 27, from Barcelona.

The Uruguay international will contest the right-sided centre-back slot with Jacquet for the season ahead and also provides the Basque tactico with an alternative at right-back.

His future however remains up in the air with Liverpool taking out a purchase option with Barca over the defender for next summer.

It will cost Liverpool somewhere in the region of €55m to make the stopper’s deal permanent - should they choose to exercise it.

And according to a report in Relevo Araujo is KEEN to remain on Merseyside for the long term in the form of a permanent transfer.

“Araujo's strength is shaping up to be essential this season if they manage to bring out their best, although competing against hungry young prospects will prevent any complacency, forcing the centre-back to squeeze every last drop out of every training session with unbridled ambition to show that he not only wants to stay (there is a purchase option of around 50 million), but that he has the level to do so,” the report reads.

So far from being a stop-gap signing Araujo could actually be the right kind of experienced leader to marshal a wholesale defensive transition next summer.

He could well be joined by Jarell Quansah - when Liverpool’s buyback clause reactivates in 2027 - demonstrating that the future of the Anfield club’s backline will remain secure even after Van Dijk departs.