Thiago Alcantara deal done — and Diogo Jota set to follow him to Liverpool

Liverpool are closing in on the signing Wolves striker Diogo Jota as Jurgen Klopp seeks to strengthen his attacking options having finally confirmed the £20 million deal for Thiago Alcantara.

The clubs are already in talks over the imminent switch of teenage defender Ki-Jana Hoever, but it has now emerged Jota is a prime Anfield target. Negotiations for Jota are proceeding.

Jota’s future has been shrouded in mystery after he was left out of Wolves’ first two games of the season, the Premier League win at Sheffield United and Thursday’s Carabao Cup defeat to Stoke City.

The Portuguese striker, 23, would fit the bill as the perfect addition to Klopp’s strikeforce as he is versatile enough to play across the front three. That means Klopp would be in a position to ease the burden on Roberto Firmino as well as Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane.

Thiago’s signing was finally secured on Friday, the club announcement following the 29-year-old delivered an emotional farewell to Bayern Munich.

Klopp says it is a statement signing by the champions.

“A player like Thiago – settled that much at Bayern – is usually out of reach for pretty much everybody,” said Klopp.

“If the player doesn’t want (to move) massively then you have no chance. You see that Bayern have long, long, long-term contracts with their main players. And Thiago was a main player for Bayern over the years. I know all the people at Bayern wanted to keep him desperately, that’s normal and understandable because he played an important role - in the last season as well. He just was ready for a new challenge and he decided for us. And that’s a compliment actually because he knows the Premier League is tough but he wants to come to the Premier League; he knows we have a good team but he wants to come to this team.

“When we spoke about all the players, he respects them all massively. He admires them. We played against him when we played Munich in the Champions League two years ago, so he knows what kind of machine we can be and he wanted to be part of that. It is about the club, it’s about the team, that he wanted to join us. That’s really cool. But did I think about him earlier? I thought a lot about him but never as a potential transfer, to be honest.”

Hoever, 18, will command a fee in excess of £10 million.