Liverpool have made a breakthrough in their pursuit of Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Florian Wirtz, reaching a verbal agreement for the German star.
The Reds have been expected to secure the signing of the 22-year-old this summer, with Wirtz making Anfield his preferred destination.
The likes of Bayern Munich and Manchester City were also interested but the Germany international fancies the Premier League champions.
That did not mean that a deal would be easy to be done as Leverkusen have set an enormous asking price for Wirtz.
Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano reports that an agreement has now been reached which could total €150m (£126.9m) if all the add-ons are met.
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That was the price tag Leverkusen had reportedly put on their star player from the start of discussions and Liverpool have met it after trying to negotiate it down.
A bid of £113m was rejected last week as the Bundesliga side held out for their asking price and it has proved to be a good move.
Personal terms with the player have already been ironed out and the transfer fee was the final missing piece of the jigsaw.
With that now sorted, a medical with Liverpool and the contract signing are expected to be imminent.
The first transfer window of the summer has now closed, so the Reds will have to wait until at least Monday June 16 to make things official.
The arrival of the 31-cap Germany international represents an enormous investment from Liverpool, smashing their transfer record.
The previous most expensive signing at the club was Virgil van Dijk, who arrived from Southampton in January 2018 for £75m.
It will be Liverpool’s second signing from Leverkusen this summer having already snapped up Jeremie Frimpong for £29.5m.
Liverpool’s record transfer fees paid
Virgil van Dijk – £75m from Southampton – January 2018
Alisson Becker – £66.8m from Roma – July 2018
Darwin Nunez – £64m from Benfica – June 2022
Dominik Szoboszlai – £60m from RB Leipzig – July 2023
Naby Keita – £45m from RB Leipzig – July 2018
On his arrival at Anfield, Frimpong said: ‘It went quite easy. Liverpool came and said they had interest, and obviously for me it was a no-brainer.
‘For me, it was like, ‘Whatever you guys do, just get this done’, [speaking to] my agents: “Just get this done.”
‘Liverpool fans, I’m going to give my all, my energy, my work-rate and hopefully we can win together, we celebrate together, get everything together.
‘I’m just excited to be here. Thank you guys for accepting me and I won’t let you guys down and I’ll give you the energy that you guys want.’