Star has landed; set to sign deal after Liverpool agree terms
A star has landed after Liverpool officially agreed on terms with a Spanish side. This one will be completed.
Liverpool are running out of time to strike all their deals before the transfer window closes at the end of the month. There's a lot to get through - surprisingly so after last season.
The feeling was that the Reds would move quickly to sort out the problems in their squad. Several things made that difficult, however, including the World Cup, a change in head coach, and then a series of deals going wrong.
The situation at centre-back, for instance, has been complicated. Ibrahima Konate rejected a new contract and left for Real Madrid, leaving things short.
That, in turn, meant Liverpool were low on defenders this pre-season. Giovanni Leoni remains out, after all, while Virgil van Dijk was late back from the World Cup. Jeremy Jacquet, who hasn't played competitively since January, also failed to find fitness across the start of pre-season.
Joe Gomez was therefore the only 'senior' defender available but he picked up a knock just eight minutes into friendly no.1. That left Andoni Iraola relying on teenagers in a patchwork defence.
One of those teenagers is Ifeanyi Ndukwe, who excelled for Liverpool despite not being able to be registered for the Premier League. It meant a loan was always on the cards and the Reds just had to wait for pre-season to finish before getting him one.
That's now been done. Ndukwe will join Levante for the campaign, playing La Liga football and hopefully developing strongly on the back of it.
Spanish journalist German Munoz has confirmed that with a video of Ndukwe arriving in Valencia to seal the deal. It seems it'll be completed imminently, pending a medical.
It's a major step up for Ndukwe and we imagine his prolonged role in Liverpool's defence this pre-season has had a massive effect on the deal. Teams saw that he could hang with top players and thus were willing to give him a chance.
So keeping up with the defender this summer is a must. Ndukwe appears to have an incredibly bright future and likely at Liverpool - that starts at Levante, though.
