Liverpool 'Close in' on £40m Move for Premier League Keeper as Jurgen Klopp Presses for Deal

Liverpool are supposedly closing in on signing Jack Butland from Stoke City, with manager Jurgen Klopp the main catalyst for the deal.

The Reds, according to the Mirror, are confident of securing the 24-year-old's signature and are willing to throw £40m at Stoke to land him, which could be a world record for a goalkeeper.

Ross Kinnaird/GettyImages

Arsenal are also rumoured to be keen on signing Butland but the player would prefer a move to Anfield in order to work with the impressionable Klopp.

It has been reported that Liverpool have been tracking Roma goalkeeper Alisson, but the club feel that Butland's Premier League experience makes him the better option. He would also be cheaper, with the Italian side demanding as much as £70m for the Brazilian stopper.

Stoke are resigned to losing their star man with the player continuing to develop at a fast rate, and will surely try and squeeze every possible penny they can out of the Reds to soften the blow of losing him.

Laurence Griffiths/GettyImages

Liverpool of course have cash to burn following their huge sale of Philippe Coutinho in January and also their recent return to the black.

Butland has been with Stoke since 2013 and became the club's number one ahead of the 2015/16 campaign following the departure of Asmir Begovic to Chelsea. Since then, he has established himself as one of the division's better goalkeepers and is in the running to be England's number one at the World Cup this summer.