Liverpool stance on new centre-back revealed after Jarell Quansah joins Bayer Leverkusen for £35m

Jarell Quansah has become Bayer Leverkusen’s club record signing after completing his move from Liverpool.

The 22-year-old defender has joined the 2024 German champions for an initial £30m with a fee rising to £35m (€41m) with easily achievable add-ons.

Liverpool also have a buyback clause if they want to bring Quansah back to Anfield in the future, which they hope will give them the best of both worlds as the build on a title-winning season last term.

His departure leaves Liverpool with only three senior central defenders, in Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate and Joe Gomez, but with a limited budget to sign a replacement after spending £170m this summer on Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez.

Manager Arne Slot has shown a willingness to use Wataru Endo and Ryan Gravenberch as central defenders, though each is more of a midfielder.

Liverpool have a profile in mind as they consider defensive additions but would be reluctant to spend heavily unless a significant opportunity emerged that convinced them to alter their plans.

Quansah, who helped England Under-21s win the European Championships this summer, only started four Premier League games last season after a breakthrough campaign in 2023-24, when he made 33 appearances.

He is the third player to move between Liverpool and Leverkusen this summer, after Frimpong and Wirtz, and will replace Jonathan Tah, who has joined Bayern Munich, at the BayArena.

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