Waldemar Anton makes final decision on transfer to Liverpool as ‘an agreement has been reached’

Stuttgart defender Waldemar Anton has rejected interest from Liverpool and agreed to sign for Borussia Dortmund this summer, with the 27-year-old keen to stay in the Bundesliga.

Liverpool have been eyeing defensive options as Joel Matip leaves the club after eight seasons and have set their sights on the Stuttgart captain. Anton impressed last season and helped Stuttgart secure a place in the Champions League, finishing a point ahead of Bayern Munich.

Head coach Arne Slot still has Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Joe Gomez and Jarell Quansah to choose from in the centre-back position, but with Matip’s departure confirmed, it remains a transfer priority. Anton also has a cut-price release clause of $23.5 million, one that was triggered by Dortmund according to BILD.

Liverpool also have Sepp van den Berg set to return to Anfield this summer after his successful loan spell at Mainz. The Bundesliga side have been looking to sign the 22-year-old permanently, but Slot may opt to keep the young defender if no reinforcements can be found.

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Anton was seen as a smart investment in the Liverpool hierarchy, especially since the last player they signed from Stuttgart turned out to be a steal. After Liverpool’s pursuit of Moises Caicedo was diverted by Chelsea last summer, they spent $23m on Japanese midfielder Endo and the former Stuttgart star has enjoyed a solid season in the Premier League.

Stuttgart were reportedly open to dealing with Liverpool again, but could instead see their captain join a Bundesliga rival. Anton was named in both the Bundesliga and player’s Team of the Season alongside Bayer Leverkusen defender Jonathan Tah.

Slot confirmed in his first interview as Liverpool manager that recruitment has already been discussed with sporting director Richard Hughes, but the Reds have so far failed to agree a target. Departing head coach Jurgen Klopp has left Liverpool in very good hands, but Slot still wants to bring in more players who suit his style of play.

So far, Slot have focused on coaching changes, having hired Fabian Otte as their new goalkeeping coach to work with Alisson Becker and Caoimhin Kelleher. Sipke Hulshoff joins as assistant and Ruben Peeters also joins Liverpool as performance coach.

“(There are) one or two more positions to be filled and we’re talking about that and having meetings about that as well,” Slot said. The new Liverpool manager is already feeling confident about next season and believes he can deliver a higher points total than Klopp managed in his last season (82) and win the title.

“(A) very good team, very good players, they managed to be at the top for a very long time, but I think in the end we would all like to see Liverpool a bit higher than third place and that is the challenge we face. now – to build on what we have,” added Slot. “I have every confidence in that because of the players, that we can add a few things where we can hopefully get a bit more points than 82, which is necessary with the likes of Arsenal and City, to hopefully go a bit higher. than we did this season”.