It is set to be an extremely busy final two days of this transfer window for those working in the offices at AXA Training Centre. Reports on Monday morning claim that Genk goalkeeper Lucca Brughmans is set to undergo a Liverpool medical, ahead of a £30 million move. How soon the 18 year old is seen at Anfield depends on Giorgi Mamardashvili's future, with Nottingham Forest very interested.
However, Brughmans is not the only youngster the Reds are seeking to snap up. According to a report by Santi Aouna of Foot Meracto, Liverpool are in "advanced negotiations" with AS Saint-Étienne over the signing of Djylian N'Guessan, who they describe as a "great prospect for the future".
The Reds hopeful of concluding a transfer deal for the player that would see him arrive next year. It is understood that N'Guessan, 18, is a French youth international, could move to Anfield in the summer of 2027. A similar arrangement is being worked on for the Genk goalkeeper though neither deal is fully done yet.
No fee has been mentioned either, but Aouna notes that the teenager's contract at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard expires in 12 months time, leaving les Stéphanois with no choice but to sell, almost certainly at a cut price.
Fabrizio Romano adds that a medical has been authorised, but fans should not expect to see N'Guessan on Merseyside very soon. The plan is to loan him back to Saint-Étienne for the remainder of this season, before potentially integrating him into Liverpool's first team squad next summer. He is still very young. In fact, yesterday was his 18th birthday; bon anniversaire Djylian.
So, who is N'Guessan, and should Liverpool fans be excited about him? The 18 year old has been with Saint-Étienne since the age of seven, impressing at youth level, he made his senior debut for les Verts in January 2025, enjoying very brief cameo appearances off the bench against Stade de Reims at home and then Paris Saint-Germain at Parc des Princes.
He then started when Nantes visited the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region the following weekend, also in the XI against Angers and Monaco, racking up 178 Ligue 1 minutes. The attacker's primary position is as a centre-forward, but he has been deployed on both flanks as well. Unfortunately, Saint-Étienne were relegated and are still stuck in Ligue 2, having been beaten by Nice in May's play-offs.
N'Guessan was a non-factor in les Verts' promotion push. The teenager made just four Ligue 2 appearances, totalling only 57 minutes, partially due to a hamstring injury. He did also make six appearances for the club's B team, scoring two goals, down in Championnat National 1, which is France's fourth-tier, emphasising the need for further development.
Despite this, the forward did score a first senior goal last November, on target during a 3-0 victory over AS Quetigny in the Coupe de France early rounds. N'Guessan is yet to feature for Ian Cathro's team in the early weeks of the new Ligue 2 season, underlining that he is very much one for the future at Liverpool, and the day we first see him in a red shirt at Anfield currently feels very far away.
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