Liverpool 'ready to sign a check' for £78m-valued defender who is also 'wanted' by Man Utd and Man City

Liverpool are interested in highly-rated Lille defender Leny Yoro with the Anfield club 'ready to sign a check' for the player, according to reports in France.

The 18-year-old centre back came through the Lille academy and made his senior debut for the club one day after his 16th birthday, to become the second youngest player in the club's history ahead of Eden Hazard.

French outlet le10sport.com revealed last month the Reds were keeping tabs on Yoro but with the January transfer window open they reportedly want to progress with a possible deal. Manchester City and Manchester United have also made contact with Lille over the player, per the report.

However, president of Lille Oliver Letang is determined to keep hold of Yoro, who has already progressed into the France Under-21s side having only turned 18 in November. For that reason, Lille are set to demand around £78m for the player this month as they hope the player will extend his stay with the club. Lille's negotiating hand is strengthened by several clubs expressing an interest in Yoro, which gives them the luxury to demand a large fee as Paris Saint-Germain are also interested in the player.

He is currently contracted until the summer of 2025, and has made 37 senior appearances, scoring three goals. Liverpool will likely be in the market for a central defender come the summer with Joel Matip entering the final months of his deal with the club.

The former Schalke 04 player is set to miss the rest of the season after picking up an ACL injury against Fulham. It has left Liverpool short in the centre-back department and could see the Reds move their plans forward by six months. Liverpool currently have Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konaté, Joe Gomez and Jarell Quansah as their centre-back options.

Despite the reports coming out of France, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has already outlined Liverpool's stance on a possible January addition at centre-back. Speaking after Matip's ACL injury was confirmed, the German said last month: "In eight years, I just never understand people always talking about transfers like they are the easiest things in the world. Bring in a player, find the money for it, like we have endless money.

"I really don't understand it. Everybody, fans, talks about it. It has to be the right player and tell me a club who wants to sell a top, top, top centre-back. Not just a centre-half, a top centre-half - they have to play for Liverpool. We know that Joel will be out for a long, long time. That's really bad for us. But there's still four centre-backs here, that's absolutely alright. If we would have had a fifth in already beforehand, that's a completely different team dynamic with one not involved.

"It was perfect how it was. Is it still perfect? As long as we can go with those four, yes. If not, it's going to be a bit more tricky with the number of games coming up. As long as other clubs don't put world-class centre-backs under the Christmas tree for us and tell us to take it as long as we need it, I haven't really thought about it yet but I don't think so, to be honest."