'Full verbal agreement' struck as DOUBLE coup thunders closer

Liverpool have struck a full verbal agreement in the first of two signings that are racing towards the finish line.

Liverpool have been amongst the busiest clubs in the summer transfer window so far, though the Reds are showing no signs of slowing down any time soon.

Centre-back and striker are the positions in focus and Liverpool intend to make THREE additions to cover all the bases.

Alexander Isak is the main goal up front, but today’s update comes at the heart of defence.

The Reds aim to sign both Parma’s Giovanni Leoni AND Crystal Palace’s Marc Guehi. Regarding the former, Sky Germany’s Florian Plettenberg has revealed a verbal agreement with the Italian on personal terms is now in place.

He wrote on X: “Understand Liverpool have reached a full verbal agreement with Giovanni Leoni!

“The super-talented 18 y/o centre-back wants to join Liverpool with immediate effect. Negotiations with Parma advanced.

“Liverpool want to sign two more centre-backs before Deadline Day if possible: one with experience (verbal agreement with Marc Guehi is done) and one young talent (Leoni).

“Rising Italian star Leoni to Liverpool — deal is close. Exclusive news from 7 August now on the way.”

Liverpool do not plan to loan Leoni out, instead believing he is already of the calibre required to become a first-team member of Arne Slot’s squad.

On the subject of cost, reporter Ben Jacobs cited a £30m fee when insisting a club-to-club agreement with Parma is imminent.

“Liverpool very close to a full agreement for Parma defender Giovanni Leoni,” wrote Jacobs on X. “Deal could be finalised in 24 hours or less.

“Understand the fee discussed is around £30m, potentially even slightly under.”

Marc Guehi next

Leoni will add depth to Liverpool’s centre-back ranks but it’s Crystal Palace and England ace, Marc Guehi, who’ll immediately push for starts.

Personal terms have been agreed with the 25-year-old and Liverpool are advancing on a club-to-club agreement with Palace.

The two sides are expected to shake hands on a deal worth somewhere in the £30m-£35m range.

Guehi’s price tag would ordinarily be far higher but his contract situation – less than a year remaining – has caused his value to drop.

Palace are determined to NOT lose a highly saleable asset for nothing and a club-to-club agreement is close.

Guehi will push Ibrahima Konate for starts alongside Virgil van Dijk if and when joining. Konate’s deal at Anfield expires at the end of the 2025/26 season and the Frenchman is a confirmed target at Real Madrid.

But per the Daily Mail, Liverpool have no intention of selling Konate despite the fact two new centre-backs are on the way.

Furthermore, the Reds remain determined to thwart Real Madrid by ironing out an extension with Konate at some stage during the upcoming campaign.

GO DEEPER: Who is Giovanni Leoni?

By Samuel Bannister

One of the latest big defensive prospects in Italian football, Leoni has worked his way up through the ranks and already has one season of Serie A action behind him by the age of 18.

Born in the Italian capital, he was raised as a Roma supporter. But he never joined his hometown team’s academy, since his family relocated to Padua when he was five years old.

Vigontina were his first youth club, before he developed with Cittadella and ultimately joined Padova as a 12-year-old.

Leoni made his Serie C debut in March 2023, becoming Italy’s youngest professional footballer that season at the age of 16 years and three months.

When he was 16 and at Padova, Leoni named Virgil van Dijk as one of his idols, explaining: “I take inspiration from Van Dijk and [Chris] Smalling” (who was then at his favourite club, Roma).

“His passion is the English championship, he wants to play there one day,” someone close to Leoni said in 2023. “He loves Van Dijk and wants to become like him.”

He made three Coppa Italia appearances for Padova in the first half of the following season before setting out on a loan spell with Sampdoria, stepping up to Serie B in the process and helping his new side reach a play-off spot.

Leoni was an unused substitute in the preliminary round of the play-offs, which Sampdoria lost, and barely two months after his move was made permanent, he was being transferred again.

This time, it was a step up to Serie A for the youngster, still only 17 at the time he was acquired by Parma (his 18th birthday wasn’t until December). Coincidentally, he made 17 appearances in his first Serie A season.

While he statistically doesn’t stand out too much yet, Leoni’s potential makes him attractive to a number of clubs. He has an imposing figure at 6ft 5in, which he makes the most of in aerial duels.

But he also possesses good traits with the ball at his feet and can slot in on the right-hand side of a centre-back department.

That has usually been within a back three so far, but given his ability to play in the middle of that kind of backline, he should be able to adapt to a back four as well. In fact, he was trusted to be at the heart of Parma’s defence in games against the likes of Napoli and Lazio towards the end of the 2024-25 season.

Parma’s head coach at the time, Cristian Chivu, earned a step up to Inter over the summer. And after taking the job, the former Ajax, Roma and Inter defender backed Leoni for a bigger destiny as well, stating his expectations of Leoni becoming a full international for Italy on a regular basis.

So far, Leoni has represented his nation at under-18 and under-19 level. He was named in Italy’s preliminary squad for the under-21 European Championship this summer as well, but didn’t make the final cut.

His trajectory is certainly an upwards one, though, and after the incremental increases in quality he has shown so far, the big boys are now circling.

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