Liverpool's Grujic bid accepted by Red Star
Red Star Belgrade have confirmed they have accepted an offer from Liverpool for midfielder Marko Grujic.
Serbia under-21 midfielder Grujic announced earlier this month that he was in talks with Liverpool and Red Star’s sporting director said this week that the 19-year-old was set to inherit Steven Gerrard’s No. 8 shirt at Anfield.
Red Star have now confirmed on their official website that they had rejected bids from Anderlecht and Stuttgart in recent days before deciding to accept a ¬7 million (£5.1m) bid from Liverpool, which includes a clause that would see the English side pay his current club 10 percent of his next transfer fee.
The statement said the board “unanimously accepted” Liverpool’s offer and that the fee will be paid immediately, although the player will remain with Red Star until July 1 next year after the clubs agreed a loan fee of ¬1m (£730,000).
The statement added: “Everyone at Red Star sincerely wanted Marko Grujic to wear our shirt for the next 10 years, but the financial situation of our club dictates that we have to make a different decision.”
The loan-back deal would enable Grujic to help his hometown club clinch a Champions League place for next season, which — with a 25-point lead at the top of Serbia’s SuperLiga — they are comfortably on course to achieve.
However, Red Star were forced to consider an immediate sale in order to pay off an estimated ¬40 million in debts — including to former players — and allow financial fair play sanctions against them to be lifted. The sanctions saw them banned from last season’s Champions League.
His move to Liverpool remains in some doubt, though, as his father has made clear his opposition to the move.
He has said the player is too young to move to the Premier League and that Red Star’s management have forced through the deal due to the financial issues.
“His passport is with me, and he is not going anywhere,” Goran Grujic told Belgrade media.
A box-to-box player, Grujic can also play as a deep midfielder or in a more advanced role, as he has this season in notching five league goals. His arrival would bolster the options in central midfield for manager Jurgen Klopp, who currently has club captain Jordan Henderson, James Milner, Emre Can, Lucas Leiva and Joe Allen as senior first-team candidates.
Grujic’s 6-foot-3 frame and aerial prowess could also be of use to Liverpool in attacking and defending set-pieces.
ESPN FC’s Liverpool correspondent Tom Bell contributed to this report
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