Liverpool have agreed a £2 million deal for Preston North End’s Ben Davies.
The Premier League champions lodged a series of enquiries for centre-back cover after losing Joel Matip, Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez all to injury.
But the Reds are now set to draft in Davies as their defensive reinforcement with teenager Sepp van den Berg heading to Deepdale on a short-term loan.
Celtic had been monitoring developments over the 25-year-old’s future with the Championship club, where his contract was due to expire this summer.
However Jurgen Klopp’s side stole a march on the Scottish champions and are expected to tie up Davies’ signature ahead of Monday’s transfer deadline.
Klopp confirmed on Friday that Liverpool would ‘try’ to sign another centre-back with several Premier League options touted as targets.
Arsenal’s Shkodran Mustafi, a one-time Everton player, emerged as a potential option as did Wolves’ Romain Saiss and Issa Diop at West Ham.
Davies has been something of a prominent fixture for Preston this season after featuring in 19 of a potential 27 domestic matches this season.
Alex Neill admitted after Saturday’s loss at Sheffield Wednesday he anticipated the Barrow-in-Furness native staying at the Lillywhites this term.
“Yes I fully expect Ben Davies to be here until the end of the season,” he told LancsLive.
“I think you can see that is he dedicated and I thought that for most of today he was excellent, he’s just a good player.”
Klopp remained tight-lipped on Liverpool’s interest in the defender, who can also operate at left-back, following Sunday’s 3-1 win over West Ham.
The German also provided the latest on Matip’s condition after he was sustained suspected ankle ligament damage in Thursday’s win at Tottenham.
He said: “With Joel we don’t have the final diagnosis.
“Specialists must have a look and stuff like this until we know exactly.
“And on transfer things, we don’t say anything, so nothing to say about it until something is done – if something is done.”