Liverpool have made a £25m bid for Brazil star Alex Teixeira.
Reds chief Ian Ayre flew out to Florida this week where the attacking midfielder’s club Shaktar Dontesk are currently holding a mid-season training camp.
And the Anfield MD will attempt to negotiate a deal, with the Ukraine club indicating they are ready to talk with a starting asking price of closer to £40m.
Liverpool have tracked the 26 year old for more than 18 months, and new boss Jurgen Klopp has given the green light to the deal as he searches for more goals from his side.
He has scored an incredible 26 goals in just 25 games for his club side this season, and that has brought him to the attention of the Brazil national side, with a call up predicted this year.
He joined Shaktar in 2010 from his first club Vasco da Gama for a fee of around £5m, and has become a star in the Ukraine.
It is his performances in Europe that brought him to the attention of Anfield scouts, not least when he was the key influence in Shaktar’s defeat of Chelsea in the Champions’ League in 2013.
He has scored 89 goals in 222 appearances for Shaktar, but almost 50 of those have come in the last two seasons, even though he has dropped deeper into the midfield after the departure of Fernandinho to Manchester City.
And it is that eye for goal that has persuaded Klopp to move now rather than wait for the summer, with Liverpool struggling so badly to convert the chances they have created this season.
The Reds have created more chances that any Premier League club other than Manchester City this season...but are amongst the league’s worst goalscorers, with just 25 goals from 22 matches.
Ayre though, knows it will be tough to negotiate with a Ukraine side, after having first hand experience when he was embarrassed in talks with Dnipro two years ago, when trying to sign winger Yevhen Konoplyanka.
That ended in acrimony with Ayre travelling out to the country but failing to strike a deal, and Liverpool are realistic enough to know they may have to wait until the summer to land the Brazilian.
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