Milos Kerkez set for Liverpool medical as Reds 'rival Chelsea' for Malick Fofana transfer | OneFootball

Bournemouth defender to finalise £40m move as Reds now seek upgrade on Federico Chiesa

Liverpool are on the verge of sealing another major summer transfer as Milos Kerkez travels to Merseyside.

Kerkez, per The Athletic, is expected to sign a five-year contract at Anfield and be officially presented as a Liverpool player on Tuesday.

Bournemouth had prepared for his exit by completing a £14.4m deal with Rennes for the signing of French defender Adrien Truffert last week.

Kerkez will become the fifth signing already of a busy summer at Liverpool, who on Friday announced the arrival of Germany forward Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen that could be worth a British record £116m with add-ons.

Dutch right-back Jeremie Frimpong had already swapped Leverkusen for Anfield as a £29.5m successor to Trent Alexander-Arnold, who went to Real Madrid early for £10m ahead of the Club World Cup.

Giorgi Mamardashvili has also joined for around £29m as part of a transfer agreed with Valencia last summer, while fellow goalkeeper Armin Pecsi sealed a £1.5m switch from Hungarian club Puskas Akademia.

Alisson Becker’s long-time deputy Caoimhin Kelleher was sold to Brentford for £18m, while last week Czech ‘keeper Vitezslav Jaros signed a new Liverpool contract before joining Ajax on a season-long loan.

Jarell Quansah is leaving for Leverkusen in a deal worth £30m plus £5m in add-ons, with claims in Germany that a buy-back clause will be included in the transfer.

The Athletic first reported on Monday that fellow academy graduate defender Nat Phillips was undergoing a medical at Championship side West Brom after spending last season on loan at Derby.

Liverpool are expected to try and strengthen their centre-back options amid reports that they are planning a “significant offer” for Crystal Palace’s FA Cup-winning captain Marc Guehi, who is entering the final year of his contract at Selhurst Park, while they are also said to be rivalling Chelsea in the race for Lyon winger Malick Fofana amid ongoing links to high-profile strikers such as Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike.

Doubts continue to surround the Anfield futures of the likes of Darwin Nunez and Federico Chiesa, with one of Andy Robertson or Kostas Tsimikas also expected to depart following the move for Kerkez. Transfer speculation also continues over Colombian forward Luis Diaz.

According to Sacha Tavolieri, Roma could be interested in Chiesa, who has also been offered to both AC Milan and Napoli as Liverpool seek to recoup the £12.5m they paid Juventus for him last summer.

He says Fofana is Liverpool’s preferred option to replace Chiesa as the top target of head of recruitment Barry Hunter, with Chelsea having already enquired about a player who Lyon reportedly hope could be worth as much as €70m (£60m) if a summer bidding war erupts between the Premier League rivals.