Liverpool confirm signing of defender Ragnar Klavan

Liverpool have completed the signing of defender Ragnar Klavan for an undisclosed fee from Augsburg.

The centre-back, who made in excess of 120 appearances in the Bundesliga, has put pen to paper on a deal with The Reds after successfully passing a medical and agreeing personal terms at Melwood.

The Estonian international was brought in as cover at centre-back as Mamadou Sakho and Joe Gomez both have injuries while Tiago Ilori, who could have been a fall-back option, is heading to the Olympics with Portugal.

Upon finalising the transfer, Klavan told Liverpoolfc.com:

“I’m really honoured to be part of this amazing club, this amazing team.”

“It’s hard to put it into words because it’s been a dream of mine for 22 years to come to the Premier League and be a part of this amazing club, Liverpool.”

“The Premier League is the most attractive league in the world and you always have amazing players here. This is the home of football.”

Jurgen Klopp sees the 30-year-old as the ideal man to offer back-up and leadership in much the same way as Kolo Toure did before his departure this summer.

Klopp has been in the market for a defender with Toure no longer at the club and Sakho set to miss the start of the Premier League season as he recovers from an Achilles injury and Sportingbet promotion indicated that Ragnar Klavan would become the fifth new face added to Jürgen Klopp’s squad this summer so far following Loris Karius, Joel Matip, Sadio Mane and Marko Grujic.

Other transfer news includes the departure of Adam Bogdan who will play his football next season with Championship side Wigan Athletic.

The Hungarian made just six appearances for the Reds in his one season after joining on a free transfer from Bolton.