The Reds will have the prospect to form the 20-year-old Turkish international’s move permanent within the summer
Liverpool has completed the deadline-day signing of Ozan Kabak from Schalke, subject to international clearance.
The 20-year-old defender will move to Anfield on loan until the top of the season, with the Reds having the choice to form the move permanently within the summer for a fee of £18 million ($25m).
Kabak, a Turkey international who moved to Schalke from Stuttgart in 2019, is going to be the primary of two signings on a busy day on Merseyside. He is going to be joined by Preston center-back Ben Davies, who finalized his switch earlier on Monday.
Goal understands that Liverpool can pay an initial loan fee of around £1m ($1.4m) for Kabak, while the deal for Davies might be worth quite £1.6m, should all performance-related add-ons be triggered.
The Reds had been insistent that it might be a quiet window, but they were forced to change their stance because the club’s injury crisis at center-back worsened significantly during January.
As things stand, all four of Jurgen Klopp’s senior options are sidelined. Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez are likely to miss the remainder of the season, while there are fears that Joel Matip’s ankle ligament injury, suffered within the 3-1 convert Tottenham last week, could keep him out for a big-time too.
Fabinho, who has performed superbly since moving back from midfield, is additionally nursing a muscle problem that has kept him out of the last two matches. The Brazilian will miss Wednesday’s game with Brighton but might be fit to return for Sunday’s blockbuster clash with Manchester City.
Liverpool considered several options once it became clear that they might need to read the market. They were offered the prospect to sign Croatian international Duje Caleta-Car from Marseille, but that deal was contingent on the French club sourcing a replacement for the 24-year-old before the Ligue 1 deadline.
That meant that Kabak became their primary target. A medical was completed in Germany on Monday morning, with Schalke pressing on with a deal to sign Shkodran Mustafi from Arsenal as a replacement.
Born in Ankara, Kabak emerged through the ranks at Turkish giants Galatasaray before moving to Stuttgart in January 2019.
Five months later he was on the move again, joining Schalke during a deal worth €15m following Stuttgart’s relegation. He has since made 36 appearances, emerging together of the few bright spots of a dismal 2020 for the Gelsenkirchen outfit, who sit the lowest of the Bundesliga at the present.
His career in Germany has not been without controversy. In September he was banned for five games and hit with a 15,000 Euro fine after being caught spitting at Werder Bremen’s Ludwig Augustinsson.
Kabak apologized to Augustinsson via Twitter afterward, insisting the incident, that he was shown a red card, was an accident.
Meanwhile, Liverpool has also completed the signing of goalkeeper Liam Hughes. The 19-year-old, a Northern Ireland U21 international, is going to be a part of the club’s U23 squad.
A deal to sign highly-rated forward Kaide Gordon from Derby is additionally expected to be finalized, with the 16-year-old joining the Reds’ academy setup.
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