: Liverpool advancing in talks to sign Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace Liverpool want to sign & … priorities for centre back position as revealed today. Both players are keen on the move, personal terms in place with Guehi and talks underway also clubs side. Liverpool are close to an agreement with Palace for package around £35m, talks are also on with Parma.

Liverpool advancing in talks to sign Marc Guehi for £35 million

Liverpool have begun talks with Crystal Palace over a deal for centre-back Marc Guehi, with negotiations at below the FA Cup winners’ previous asking price.

Guehi is now expected to leave Crystal Palace before the end of the transfer window, with chairman Steve Parish conceding his sale is likely.

Liverpool are the 25-year-old’s most likely destination and the Times‘ Paul Joyce now reports that talks are underway between the two clubs.

The proposed deal is worth £30 million with a further £5 million built in through various add-ons.

That is below the asking price widely reported earlier in the summer, which began at closer to £65 million and later fell to £40 million.

Guehi is clearly open to the move to Anfield and negotiations appear to have stepped up following Parish’s public encouragement over a transferred

“For players of that calibre to leave on a free, it’s a problem. No doubt about it, unfortunately,” Parish told reporters after the Community Shield.

Any deal for the England international could be added to by the pursuit of Parma’s Giovanni Leoni, who This Is Anfield understands is also a target for Liverpool.

Leoni, 18, has not yet communicated whether he would be willing to leave Italy at this stage in his career and therefore no contact has been made with his club as of yet.

Signing both Guehi and Leoni would not be an issue for Liverpool either financially or in terms of squad size, as the former would be eligible as homegrown in the Premier League and the latter would be classed as an U21 player.

In fact, the Italy youth international would eventually qualify as homegrown if he were to join this summer and spend the next three seasons with clubs in England or Wales.

Liverpool are in desperate need of reinforcement at centre-back as, with Jarell Quansah sold to Bayer Leverkusen and Joe Gomez again sidelined through injury, their only specialist senior options are Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate.

While they are two of the best in the world in their position, the reality is that Van Dijk is now 34 and Konate has entered the final year of his contract with no guarantee of an extension.

Guehi also has under 12 months left on his deal with Palace and that has fuelled the London club’s willingness to sell.