Striker Bobby Duncan will officially become a Liverpool player on Sunday after quitting Manchester City following a contract stand-off, according to the Telegraph.
The newspaper claim the England Under-17 international has already signed a Liverpool contract – on Tuesday of this week – and is set to be unveiled the day after his deal at the Etihad Stadium expires.
The Merseyside club will pay their Premier League rivals a compensation fee of £200,000, in accordance with Fifa rules, for the signature of Duncan, who is the 17-year-old cousin of Steven Gerrard.
OPINION
This is quite a coup for Liverpool. Not only are they signing a rising star from the team that swashbuckled their way to the Premier League title last season, but they are getting a young English player long regarded as an unpolished gem. Duncan has scored prolifically at age-group level and rose to prominence last year when he became the first England player at any level to score a hat-trick against Brazil in an Under-16 international. The wonderkid appears to know his own mind, too. Rather than wait in the fringes at the City academy, he has decided to move to a club where there is a clearer path from the youth to the senior team. Trent Alexander-Arnold has showed what can be achieved if the nettle offered by Jurgen Klopp is grasped, and Rhian Brewster is set to join the first team set-up next season after spurning a transfer to Germany. Duncan has the potential and pedigree to join the teenagers in the senior squad if he continues his rapid climb.
