Premier League champions Liverpool have made a defensive reinforcement by completing the signing of Ben Davies from Preston North End.
The 25-year-old Davies was out of contract in the summer and had agreed pre-contract terms with Celtic but Liverpoolhave now swooped on their Man.
The deal is said to be in the region of £1.6m.
Meanwhile Schalke defender Ozan Kabak is also closing in on a move to the Reds on Deadline Day after a deal was agreed between the two clubs.
Following the agreement of the deal on Sunday, the Reds have now sent 19-year-old centre-back Sepp van den Berg to Deepdale on loan until the end of the season as part of the deal.
Liverpool have paid £500,000 up front for Davies but Preston could receive add-ons totalling up to £1.1m, while the Championship club will also retain a 20 per cent sell-on clause on the defender.
On signing a long-term contract, Davies toldLiverpoolfc.com: “It’s a huge opportunity. Obviously it came as a bit of a surprise when it first came but once you start to get your head around it, the opportunity that is in front of me is incredible. I’d be silly to not make the most of it and learn off the players [at the club].
“I’ve never actually been to Anfield and I haven’t had a look around yet. I had a quick look out and had a look at the pitch and it looks like a carpet, which obviously you’d expect.
“I haven’t actually walked out of the tunnel yet, so I’m looking forward to that. Just to be in this kind of atmosphere is brilliant.”
“I think it’s probably clear that in a normal transfer window, without any issues, we would not look at Preston if there’s a player for us or something like that,” Jurgen Klopp said.
“But since we saw him and since our situation got clearer and clearer – the problems we had – when we saw him we got really excited about it and thought, ‘Wow.'”We see the quality and we see the potential as well because he’s 25 and there’s a lot to come for him. I love a lot about his play.
“He’s a really good footballer, looks like a proper leader in this Preston team, good in challenges, looks football smart, can play different positions because he played in a back three and a back four and all these things. That makes him really interesting so I’m really looking forward to working with him.”
Schalke defender Ozan Kabak is also closing in on a Deadline Day move to Anfield after the Reds agreed an initial loan deal with an option to buy for the Turkey international .
The 20-year-old has already undergone a medical in Germany and is expected to fly into Merseyside in the next few hours.
Schalke were unwilling to let Kabak leave without a replacement and have moved to secure Arsenal defender Shkodran Mustafi on a six-month deal.
Davies, 25, is Liverpool’s first signing of the winter transfer window and arrives at Anfield amid the club’s central defensive injury crisis.
Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez are long-term injury absentees, while Joel Matip sustained an ankle injury in the 3-1 Premier League win at Tottenham last week – a game Fabinho missed with a minor muscle injury.Nathaniel Phillips, 23, replaced Matip on Thursday and started alongside Jordan Henderson in the 3-1 win at West Ham on Sunday, while 19-year-old Rhys Williams has also featured for Liverpool this season.
