After missing most of the season for Schalke, it doesn’t seem the market value for Kyriakos Papadopoulos, the young and very talented Greek centre back, has been hurt. Liverpool are looking for some serious upgrading in that position, and the 21-year old seems to be on his way from the Bundesliga to the Premier League for £12 million.

Brendan Rodgers has been an admirer of Papadopoulos for quite a long time, ever since he left Olympiacos for the tougher challenge of German football, doing quite well for himself despite landing at Schalke as a teenager, signing in 2010 on a four-year deal. He has appeared 92 times for the club, scoring 7 goals, coming through again and again with his knack to score some big goals through his fantastic heading ability.

For Liverpool, while Papadopoulos might be an expensive signing considering Rodgers doesn’t have all that much to spend and quite a lot of players he wants to bring in for specific and overall depth purposes, signing one of the most promising young central defenders in Europe is an opportunity they shouldn’t miss out on, seeing as how they’ve seemed to revel in mediocrity, a lot due to the wrong kind of signings, over the last two-three seasons.

This doesn’t mean that Kolo Toure isn’t arriving, although it does mean that with Papadopoulos in the squad, Toure is probably going to be the backup for both him and Daniel Agger, while Sebastian Coates will try once again to breakthrough into the first team, not doing too well during his first two seasons with the team.

Papadopoulos has been a starting player since the age of 18 from Schalke, after making a few cameo appearances for Olympiacos while still a schoolboy. He has appeared 16 times for the Greek national team, scoring four goals, and appearing in Euro 2012 last summer.