Emre Can

[Yozza]

Liverpool have made their second signing of the summer after agreeing a deal for Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Emre Can.

The Reds have been chasing the Germany Under-21 international for some time but the process was held up by complications associated with a buy-back clause Bayern Munich inserted into the deal which took the 20-year-old to Leverkusen for £4.4million 12 months ago.

Press Association Sport understands Can will officially join Liverpool on July 1 when all the relevant paperwork can be completed but the player has already signed a contract with the club.

Can had a 12 million euro (£9.75million) release clause effective for foreign clubs and it is reported Bayern will receive £1.2million as compensation for waiving their buy-back option.

The 20-year-old midfielder follows Southampton striker Rickie Lambert, who completed his £4million move on Monday, to Anfield as manager Brendan Rodgers' summer strengthening continues ahead of a Champions League return next season.

A deal for the German progressed significantly on Wednesday when Leverkusen confirmed Liverpool had made an official bid and it was concluded late on Wednesday night.

"Until Tuesday, it was a rumour," Leverkusen chief executive Michael Schade told German newspaper Bild on Wednesday.

"Now I can confirm that an official offer from Liverpool is received by mail."

In a short statement Liverpool said: "Liverpool have today agreed a deal in principle with Bayer Leverkusen to sign 20-year-old Emre Can, subject to documentation being completed."

Schade, in confirming Can's depature, said the club were powerless to keep the player once his release clause was met.

"Emre Can has developed very quickly at Bayer 04 Leverkusen over the past 12 months," he told the club's website.

"We wanted to keep Emre at Leverkusen but the release clause is part of his contract.

"So we wish him all the best and lots of success in his time in the Premier League."

[Roboklopp]

Hopefully another year of healing will help him too. (RE Lucas)

[Pablo]

i'd hope we kept lucas. Whilst he drops down the pecking order - we need a squad and i still feel he'll do a job/give us some experienced cover.

imo - if we sold lucas now - well we'd just be back to square one in terms of squad depth in midfield except we'd have a potentially better player than lucas.

Definitely. And a great lad to have around.

We definitely need to keep Lucas. It's up to him now to rediscover his best form if he wants to stay ahead of Can. Should bring the best out of both of them.

[Chris]

i'd hope we kept lucas. Whilst he drops down the pecking order - we need a squad and i still feel he'll do a job/give us some experienced cover.

imo - if we sold lucas now - well we'd just be back to square one in terms of squad depth in midfield except we'd have a potentially better player than lucas.

Definitely. And a great lad to have around.

Yeah I dont see the point in selling Lucas, just got to try and avoid having him and Gerrard on the pitch at the same time. The pair of em look so much better when they're surrounded by energy. Theres loads of talk that he's finished but he looked good v Spurs and City when surrounded by Allen and Hendo doing the running.

[The_weatherman]

If we get Lallana in as well our midfield will be a very good shape. Lallana, Gerrard, Henderson, Coutinho, Allen and Lucas is looking seriously good IMO.

[Marina]

I believe his surname is pronounced "Jan." Unfortunate for those who are fond of player name puns.

[Roboklopp]

I believe his surname is pronounced "Jan." Unfortunate for those who are fond of player name puns.

Jan cannot be serious.

[PTP]

If we get Lallana in as well our midfield will be a very good shape. Lallana, Gerrard, Henderson, Coutinho, Allen and Lucas is looking seriously good IMO.

looks very good

great mixture of everything there - experience, 1st team ready, potential, couple of tacklers, couple with good engines, all comfortable with the ball, likes of coutinho/lallana give us that bit of quality in the attacking 3rd.

gerrard aside - aged between what 20 to 27

none of them come across as petulant/nobheads who will sulk if not starting...all will know they need to fight to get in this team

i always try to look at a '2nd choice' way of things, because that then dictates how good your 1st choice is.

if we had to play the below, say for two/three games as we were resting/had a suspension/playing a cup game or something

------------------lucas-----------------
--------------can-------allen-------------


all three would be looking to play out their skin to prove themselves/get in to the first choice.

And - it would then mean the others, know they need to maintain their level to keep their place

it's a good position to be in - plus with the amount of games all will get plenty of playing time


lets just get lallana tied up

[The_weatherman]

looks very good

great mixture of everything there - experience, 1st team ready, potential, couple of tacklers, couple with good engines, all comfortable with the ball, likes of coutinho/lallana give us that bit of quality in the attacking 3rd.

gerrard aside - aged between what 20 to 27

none of them come across as petulant/nobheads who will sulk if not starting...all will know they need to fight to get in this team

i always try to look at a '2nd choice' way of things, because that then dictates how good your 1st choice is.

if we had to play the below, say for two/three games as we were resting/had a suspension/playing a cup game or something

------------------lucas-----------------
--------------can-------allen-------------


all three would be looking to play out their skin to prove themselves/get in to the first choice.

And - it would then mean the others, know they need to maintain their level to keep their place

it's a good position to be in - plus with the amount of games all will get plenty of playing time


lets just get lallana tied up

Definately looks promising, Rodgers has a tendency to reward players who play well and that will be put to the test this season. He can vary as well, put Sterling upfront with Suarez or Sturridge with Coutinho in the hole. One new attacker, Lallana, Moreno and a centre back and we'll be setup to be challenging on all fronts IMO.

[spider-neil]

Emre Can...**** Yeah!!

[Slinky Skills]

Good news!

Few more Leverkusen fan comments :

"Alone this Beefy, athletic body, coupled with Dynamics, will and power. Since a geis can not keep up.
Emre can is a beast! "

"The man has an incredible presence on Concert square and is an excellent fighter.
The finish would be a huge loss for Bayer04."

"you must recognize that can fits perfectly with his style of play to England. Think he will be a good number here."

"very good for us, good luck in England"

"The Emre had super moments here: impressive mental & physical presence, plus very good footballing facilities. I'm sorry already."

"Generally, it is certainly unfortunate, but it should be remembered just what options we have as Bayer 04 here. We are not a top address for such players, we're not interesting enough"

[I, Ravel Morrison]

I like everything I'm hearing about the lad until this line "his deal marks the fourth occasion a player has arrived at Anfield from Leverkusen, with the other three all being strikers in Yesil, Erik Meijer and Andriy Voronin."

Makes me a little less enthused!

The release clause of £9.75million seems fairly lower than what was being reported. For a change it seems and well happy with that.

[Bender]

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[Mark79]

I believe his surname is pronounced "Jan." Unfortunate for those who are fond of player name puns.

The punsters on here (and in the press) rarely let details like proper pronunciation get in the way of their work

[SB]

Thrilled to bits with another of Brendan's choices in the bag so early on.