Liverpool ‘came close’ to completing second transfer as Ben Davies deal agreed

Liverpool reportedly came close to completing a transfer with another defender before agreeing terms with Preston star Ben Davies.

Reports in France claim the Reds were hot on the heels of Duje Caleta Car and even struck a deal with Marseille over a switch.

The 24-year-old was all set to fly to the UK this Sunday to put pen to paper on a contract with Liverpool, but the plug was pulled at the last minute.

Reports claims Marseille wanted to secure a replacement before agreeing to let the centre-back leave, and were unable to do this.

Liverpool quickly turned their attention to Preston defender Davies, and have agreed a deal worth £2million for the centre-back.

Davies came through the ranks at Deepdale and has gone on to make more than 200 appearances for the Championship club.

Reds youngster Sepp van den Berg is expected to head in the opposite direction on loan to Preston for the remainder of the season.

Klopp recently complained about how hard it is to sign a world-class centre-back in the current market, saying Liverpool keep getting priced out of deals.

The Reds were keen on signing either RB Leipzig stars Dayot Upamecano or Ibrahima Konate but were quoted around £80million.

"You know the situation with centre-halves out there," said Klopp.

"You know the clubs where the centre-halves are playing, because everyone is talking about them. Tell me if one of these clubs needs the money and needs to sell a player?

"And if they need money then they want crazy money. I am not sure there is an £80million centre-back available at the moment and a club thinks 'We can get £80m for him so we will sell him'. The teams would not sell this calibre of player now."

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