Liverpool are reportedly close to signing two new central defenders as the Reds eye a productive start to the January window. They were the Premier League's biggest summer spenders and look set to maintain their recruitment drive over the next few weeks. Arne Slot will be hoping for things to go smoothly in order to give new players the maximum amount of time to settle in.

The reigning Premier League champions have made it a priority to reinforce at the back, with Giovanni Leoni nursing a long-term injury and Ibrahima Konate approaching the end of his contract. They also have one eye on the future and have reportedly agreed a deal to sign a teenage defender with huge potential for growth.

Austria Vienna centre-back Ifeanyi Ndukwe is set to join Liverpool after terms were agreed at club level, according to Fabrizio Romano. He will complete his move to Anfield in the summer and is seen as a 'huge talent' by the Reds hierarchy.

Ndukwe, who will celebrate his 18th birthday in March, has turned plenty of heads with his impressive displays at club and international level. He has already represented Austria, playing for their under-17s at the World Cup in November.

The youngster has given the green light to his Liverpool switch and is expected to start in the under-21s, with a view to playing for the senior team in the future.

Ndukwe is not the only central defender the Reds are trying to sign, though, with Joel Ordonez also nearing a big-money move from Club Brugge.

According to ESPN, a deal is 'close' with Liverpool prepared to stump up £43million to secure his signature. The structure of the proposal would include an initial fee of £35m plus another £8m in performance-related bonuses.

Club Brugge have reportedly decided to sell Ordonez, who represents Ecuador at international level, before the January window closes. He was close to joining Marseille in the summer but the Belgian outfit decided to block the deal from going through.

Liverpool are said to have been tracking the 21-year-old for several months, with Anfield chiefs convinced that he would be the right player to bolster their defence.

That is despite Slot recently suggesting that he would refrain from sanctioning expensive January transfers, much like his predecessor Jurgen Klopp who famously broke that rule to land Virgil van Dijk.

Speaking earlier this week, the Liverpool boss said: "First of all for himself, but the injury of Giovanni Leoni is, of course, it has quite a lot of impact.

"If you have four centre backs for the season, two right and two left-backs with Wata [Wataru Endo] and Ryan [Gravenberch] who can help you out, but then you have an ACL injury, that is not very helpful. It is tough.

"This is our way of working at Liverpool. The outside world wants to believe we have unlimited money but that is not true.

"You insiders know, and you are the only ones because the outside world only talks about our spending, what we have brought in [money] to spend. That is the way we work over here.

"You then have to accept that in certain games during a season you are short of a right full-back. But we are still able to win. I fully believe in that way of working, by the way."