Liverpool were leading race to sign star, have a few days to make it count

Benfica are close to signing Andrija Zivkovic from Partizan Belgrade, A Bola reports. The player’s contract with the Serbian club is expiring this week and he will be free to leave.

The foreign press have linked Zivkovic to Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool in the past few months, and the Portuguese newspaper says the Reds seemed to be leading the race for the 19-year-old.

A Bola mentions these clubs as the only potential sides who could spoil Benfica’s deal, but as the club and the player’s father have already agreed terms, a move to Lisbon seems more likely to happen at this stage.

The player will be unattached on Friday and Benfica will reportedly pay around €5m as a signing on fee. If the English clubs are really interested they still have a few days to convince the player.

The winger managed 12 goals and 9 assists in 27 games last season. According to Transfermarkt, he should be worth around €6.5m on the open market.