Ragnar Klavan joins Liverpool
July 20, 2016
Liverpool announced in a statement on their website on Wednesday that Klavan had passed his medical and signed a three-year contract at the club's training facility in Melwood.
"It's hard to put it into words, because it's been a dream of mine for 22 years to come to the Premier League and be a part of this amazing club, Liverpool," Klavan was quoted as saying within the statement. "The Premier League is the most attractive league in the world and you always have amazing players here. This is the home of football."
British newspaper The Guardian is reporting Klavan will move from Augsburg to Liverpool for a fee of 4.2 million pounds (5 million euros, $5.5 million) plus add-ons. He will become the first Estonian player to play in England's Premier League.
"We knew for years that it was Ragnar's dream to be the first Estonian to play in the Premier League," said Augsburg's sporting director, Stefan Reuter, in a statement on the club's website. "When the chance came for him to move to a club like Liverpool we worked together to try and come up with a solution."
Klopp's Bundesliga raid continues
The veteran defender becomes the third player Klopp has poached from the Bundesliga this window. Joel Matip agreed to join Liverpool in February upon the expiration of his contract with Schalke, and the Reds also acquired German under-21 goalkeeper Loris Karius from Mainz in May.
Klavan made 125 Bundesliga appearances in four years with Augsburg. He also helped the Bavarian club achieve their first knockout stage berth in European competition, reaching the Round of 32 before eventually being eliminated by Liverpool. He has 110 caps with the Estonian national team.
Augsburg have now lost both of their starting center backs from last season, also losing Hong Jeong-ho to Jiangsu Suning of the Chinese Super League earlier this month. However, the club acquired former Hamburg midfielder Gojko Kacar this week, as well as Schalke's Marvin Friedrich and Leipzigs Georg Teigl earlier this summer, to help fill the void.