Five-year deal on the table: Liverpool edge closer to quickfire transfer after Man United left trailing - report

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Published on:

10 May 2017, 12:57 am

By Harry Sykes

Liverpool are in the driving seat to sign Michael Keane due to a lack of urgency from Manchester United, according to a report.

The Sun claim the Merseysiders are keen to push through the capture of the Burnley centre-back "immediately" and have placed a five-year contract on the negotiating table.

It is said that United manager Jose Mourinho has made the club's academy product Keane his number one defensive target but they have been slow to make a move.

This mean that Liverpool are in pole position to sign the newly-capped England international in the forthcoming transfer window.

The Sun report that there has been no direct contact between Keane, 24, and Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp but the player has been made aware of the strong desire from the club to sign him.

The Keane twist comes 24 hours after the Liverpool Echo reported that Keane is third in Liverpool's summer centre-back shopping list, with Southampton's Virgil van Dijk and £60million-rated Napoli star Kalidou Koulibaly ahead of him.

Klopp is targeting a commanding central defender as a priority for the club as preparations are made for a possible Champions League return next season.

Dejan Lovren and Joel Matip are the current favoured centre-back partnership at the club, backed up by Ragnar Klavan and Lucas Leiva.

Liverpool are third in the Premier League with two matches of their campaign remaining and will secure a top-four finish if they win both of those games against West Ham and Middlesbrough.

In other Liverpool transfer news, Klopp is confident of signing the next Gareth Bale for a bargain price of just £10million as the deal of the summer edges closer.

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