• Nathaniel Clyne will be Liverpool’s sixth signing of pre-season
Liverpool have agreed a £12.5m deal for the Southampton right-back Nathaniel Clyne, who is set to become the club’s sixth signing of the summer. Clyne, who has been capped five times by England, will now undergo a medical at Liverpool and finalise his personal terms.
The 24-year-old has given Southampton little encouragement that he will extend his contract with them and, although the south coast club had hoped for a fee of £15m for him, they have settled on a little less, with £2m of the money to be dependent on appearances. They had rejected Liverpool’s opening offer of £10m. Clyne’s deal with Southampton is set to expire next summer.
Clyne will follow three former Saints to Anfield – Adam Lallana, Dejan Lovren and Rickie Lambert moved there from St Mary’s last summer – and he hopes to kick on after his fine season last time out, which brought him recognition at international level.
Brendan Rodgers, the Liverpool manager, regularly used Emre Can at right-back last season, even though the German was uncomfortable in the role. Rodgers was without Jon Flanagan because of serious injury while Glen Johnson, who will leave the club as a free agent at the end of the month, fell from favour.
Liverpool have already signed Roberto Firmino, James Milner, Danny Ings, Adam Bogdan and Joe Gomez, as they move swiftly to restrengthen after their disappointing season last time out. They could recoup much of their outlay if they were to sell Raheem Sterling, who wants to leave and has been the subject of afailed £40m bid from Manchester City.
Clyne’s sale has looked likely for several weeks and Southampton have put contingencies in place. They have signed Cédric Soares from Sporting Lisbon for an initial £3.6m while they have explored the possibility of taking Carl Jenkinson on loan from Arsenal.
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