Liverpool have completed the signing of highly rated Austrian centre-back Ifeanyi Ndukwe, with the teenager set to join the club in the summer.
The 17-year-old impressed at the recent Under-17 World Cup, playing a key role as Austria reached the final.
His current club, Austria Vienna, confirmed the structure of the deal for their homegrown defender on Monday evening.
The club said in a statement: “Liverpool FC has secured the option to sign Austria Vienna’s home-grown talent Ifeanyi Ndukwe during the upcoming summer transfer window.
“This option can be exercised until the end of June 2026. The tall centre-back has been a Violet since the age of seven and has played for all of Austria’s youth and academy teams.”
Club sporting director Michael Wagner said: “It is a great honour that one of the world’s best football clubs has shown interest in one of our home-grown players. The agreement with Liverpool FC is structured in such a way that Austria Vienna will come out well in any scenario, regardless of whether the option is exercised or not.
“For me, this is a clear win-win situation for both clubs. Above all, this story is a great tribute to the excellent work that is done in our academy every day. We have a number of players here with enormous potential, which we want to exploit even more in future and thus become a springboard for talented players into Europe’s top leagues – Austria Vienna is the right club for this.
“We were aware that there would be a lot of interest in our three U17 team players in particular after they reached the World Cup final. Basically, our goal is for our talented players to first establish themselves in the first team and thus recommend themselves for higher tasks.
“In this case, the overall package – both Liverpool FC’s offer to Austria and the prospects for Ifeanyi Ndukwe – was a perfect fit for everyone involved.”
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