Liverpool on pole to reach agreement to sign 20-year-old in January

Liverpool lead the race to sign Sao Paulo defender Lucas Beraldo with reports now suggesting Jurgen Klopp has switched his focus to signing a centre-back.

Another defender the Reds have been heavily linked with signing is Goncalo Inacio amid claims the Reds and Newcastle United are gearing up to trigger his release clause.

Hopes of signing Beraldo were boosted recently when Jorge Nicolas reported that Sao Paulo will accept less than £20 million to reach an agreement.

Now, Brazilian outlet UOL reports that Liverpool are "the favorite club to take him from São Paulo."

Beraldo turned 20 this week but still has room to improve. Despite that the defender has a lot of potential with UOL writing Liverpool "knows this very well."

Signing a new defensive midfielder is the priority for Jurgen Klopp while a centre-back is not as urgently needed.

Andre may not join the Reds in the January transfer window but failing to replace Fabinho in two consecutive windows would be a dubious decision from those in charge of recruitment at Anfield.

While Trent Alexander-Arnold's fantastic strike rescued a point against Manchester City, Liverpool struggled to keep possession and control the midfield battle without a natural no.6.

Alexis Mac Allister did a great job of holding onto the ball and his 94% pass accuracy helped the away side to break out but his ball-winning ability is simply not good enough.

Hopefully Liverpool sign a no.6 in the summer otherwise it could prove costly.