Liverpool have reached a pre-agreement with Rennes to sign defender Jérémy Jacquet in the summer, sources told ESPN.
The deal is expected to be worth £55 million ($74 million) plus £5 million ($6.8 million) in add-ons, the sources added, with the 20-year-old viewed as a crucial part of Liverpool's defensive rebuild.
Chelsea had agreed a fee for Jacquet and didn't expect personal issues to be an issue but that changed when they decided to bring back centre-back Mamadou Sarr from Strasbourg and refused offers to sell Josh Acheampong, sources told ESPN.
Jacquet prefers the project at Liverpool because he expects to have more opportunity to play, sources told ESPN.
Liverpool are in need of defensive reinforcements, with uncertainty remaining over the futures of Ibrahima Konaté and Andy Robertson, who are both out of contract in the summer. The Premier League champions had tried to sign Marc Guéhi from Crystal Palace last summer, only for Palace to pull the plug on the £35 million ($47.8 million) deal on deadline day.
England international Guéhi joined rivals Manchester City earlier this month. Sources told ESPN Liverpool had held talks over a January move for Netherlands international Lutsharel Geertruida, who is currently on a season-long loan at Sunderland from RB Leipzig.
However, Liverpool opted not to pursue the deal after Sunderland were unable to find a replacement.
Liverpool have suffered a host of defensive injuries this term, with Conor Bradley and Giovanni Leoni out for the season, while Joe Gomez and Jeremie Frimpong are also sidelined.
Arne Slot's defending Premier League champions are in sixth place, 14 points behind leaders Arsenal, but only two back of Manchester United in fourth.
Information from ESPN's James Olley and Julien Laurens contributed to this report.
