Liverpool have agreed a £55m deal with Rennes for centre-back Jeremy Jacquet.
The 20-year-old, who was a Chelsea target, will move to Anfield in the summer after Liverpool agreed a fee with the French club.
It could rise to £60m including add-ons and would make Jacquet the second most expensive defender in Liverpool’s history, after Virgil van Dijk.
Liverpool have turned to Jacquet in their search for a new centre-back after a move for Marc Guehi broke down on the last day of the summer transfer window, with Crystal Palace instead selling the England international to Manchester City in January.
Ibrahima Konate, who has been an automatic choice alongside Van Dijk this season, is out of contract in the summer and Liverpool risk losing him on a free transfer.
But while they are short of defenders now, with Giovanni Leoni and Conor Bradley out for the season and Jeremie Frimpong sidelined for several weeks, Jacquet is not set to join straight away, with Rennes sixth in Ligue 1 and in a battle to qualify for Europe.
Liverpool had also looked into a loan move for Lutsharel Geertruida for the remainder of the season but it looks too complicated to bring in a right-back who had played for head coach Arne Slot at Feyenoord.
The Netherlands international is on loan at Sunderland from RB Leipzig and it would have required both clubs to agreed to a deal.
