Liverpool on the verge of signing central defender Ragnar Klavan, Augsburg’s Estonian with over 100 caps to his name, reports the Telegraph.
In truth, we hadn’t heard much about the Bundesliga ace until our interest was reported, but Klavan played twice against us in the Europa League last term – and put in a highly accomplished performance in Augsburg’s home leg especially.
This YouTube video shows Klavan’s every action against us, and you can see his ability on the ball, his happiness to step out of defence – and the fact he’ll look to hit long-balls with his cultured left foot.
He doesn’t look especially quick, but seems positionally smart and clearly organises the defence around him well.
In this respect, he reminds us of Kolo Toure – the experienced backup defender he’s essentially replacing.
For the mooted £3.5m, this seems smart business.