Liverpool 'one signature away' from big January transfer with 'lucrative contract'

Club Brugge center-back Joel Ordonez has emerged as a defensive target for Liverpool, with the main terms of the deal said to have been agreed

Joel Ordonez of Club Brugge(Image: 2024 Soccrates Images B.V.)

Liverpool is reportedly closing in on a deal to sign Club Brugge defender Joel Ordonez, with a report in the player's native Ecuador saying that he is just "one signature away" from securing the move.

It is claimed that the Reds have beaten off competition from Inter Milan and Chelsea for the young center-back, who was won over by the sporting project at Anfield.

Michael Edwards, Liverpool's chief executive of soccer, is said to be leading negotiations with Brugge and Ordonez, with the main terms of the deal said to have been agreed.

According to Diario Expreso, it is now a case of finalizing the small details before Ordonez signs on the dotted line on Merseyside.

Ordonez will reportedly earn $7 million (£5.2 million) a year if the deal for him to join Liverpool gets over the line.

It is not clear exactly when the plan is for Ordonez to move to Liverpool, but it is suggested that it will take a bid in excess of $47 million to prise him away from the Belgian club in January.

Brugge confirmed on Tuesday that Ordonez was among the 30 players who departed for a warm-weather training camp in Marbella this weekend, ahead of the resumption of the Belgian league season later this month.

Liverpool's defensive issues started all the way back on September 1, when Crystal Palace U-turned on an agreement to sell Marc Guehi to the Reds.

The addition of Guehi would've bumped the number of center-backs in Arne Slot's squad up to five, but Palace pulled out of the deal over concerns about the impact that its captain's exit would have had on Oliver Glasner's squad.

Liverpool missed out on Marc Guehi last year(Image: Getty Images)

Weeks later, Liverpool was down to three center-backs as teenage defender Giovanni Leoni, a summer signing from Parma, suffered a serious knee injury in a League Cup game that is expected to keep him out for the remainder of the season.

Joe Gomez's fitness problems have been an issue for Liverpool for some time now, and he is also currently sidelined, leaving Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate as Liverpool's only senior available center-backs.

Liverpool remains interested in Palace's Guehi, but a deal during the winter window is unlikely, and the Reds are likely to face competition for Guehi next summer, when he will be available as a free agent.