Dutch centre-back Sepp van den Berg became Jurgen Klopp’s first summer signing this morning.
The youngster jetted to England on Wednesday for a medical and to sign his contract.
That comes after his club PEC Zwolle accepted a £1.5million bid from the Reds, who saw off Bayern Munich and Ajax to close the deal.
The 17-year-old made 15 Eredivisie appearances last term which saw him build a reputation as one of the hottest properties in Holland’s top-flight.
According to the Evening Standard, those upstairs at Anfield had confidence in the deal because they saw similarities between it and the £4.1m signing of Joe Gomez from Charlton in 2015.
The England international has gone from strength to strength since recovering from a serious knee injury in his early days at Anfield.
Now he has become a key part of Klopp’s defence, which was the tightest backline in the Premier League last season.
Liverpool are hoping that Van den Berg can follow in Gomez’s footsteps and develop into an established first team defender in years to come.
The European champions are not expected to spend excessive amounts in this summer’s market.
That’s because Klopp now feels happy with what he’s managed to assemble after nearly four years in charge.
It’s likely that Liverpool will be in the market for squad players, after waving goodbye to Alberto Moreno and Daniel Sturridge upon the expiry of their contracts.
Last summer the Reds strengthened significantly by bringing in Alisson, Fabinho, Naby Keita and Xherdan Shaqiri.
This time around things are expected to be different, but that doesn’t mean the Reds may not bring in one or two big names.
Klopp has been on holiday with his wife in Mexico enjoying some sunshine, but will return to Melwood shortly to begin preparations for the new campaign.
Liverpool start their new Premier League campaign at home to Norwich.
It will be the first match of the new season on Friday August 9.
