Liverpool have finally agreed a fee with Inter Milan for Philippe Coutinho, with the playmaker expected to travel to Merseyside soon to complete a medical and officially make his move.
The English Premier League club came to terms with an £8.5 million ($13.4 million), with the Brazilian set to become Liverpool's second signing of January, subject to passing a medical, according to BBC Sport.
The Reds have been courting Coutinho for the past couple of weeks, with Inter Milan turning down their first two bids. However, the Italian club, despite reportedly accepting a higher bid from Southampton, have decided to sell the 20-year-old to Liverpool.
It is understood, Coutinho turned down the chance of joining Southampton, even after Inter accepted a £10.2 million ($16.1 million) offer, with the Brazilian not keen on joining the Saints.
Coutinho fits in perfectly with Liverpool's policy, under their American owners FSG, of buying young and talented players, with the Brazilian, despite seeing his career stalled to some extent, still expected to make great strides in the game.
Liverpool, however, will be sweating on securing a work permit for Coutinho, with the youngster only having made one appearance in the senior Brazilian side to date.
The Anfield faithful will be hoping the playmaker has the same impact that Sturridge has had on the side, with the former Chelsea man already scoring three goals in his first three games.
Meanwhile, Brendan Rodgers has called on his side not to take their foot off the pedal when they face Oldham in the F.A. Cup fourth round Sunday, with the manager promising to put out a strong side against the League One club.
"The history of the football club is about winning," he said. "You come here -- second is no good.
"That is what the foundations of this club have been built on. This is a competition which is a genuine chance.
"The League Cup was a competition where we played a lot of our young players, but this is a competition that we would like to do very well in along with the league and the Europa League - we have important games coming up in that later on in February.
"The second half of the season is the business end. We'll take a strong squad because we don't want to hold back. Both of those (Luis Suarez and Sturridge) will travel, there's no doubt that they'll stay behind. We'll go with a strong squad and we want to do well.
"We want to win a trophy. Of course, we want to progress in the league and get into those top four positions. It's going to be difficult this season for us to do that but we're certainly going to fight in order to get there."
