Liverpool agree deal to sign N'Guessan from Saint-Étienne

Liverpool have agreed a deal to sign Djylian N'Guessan from Saint-Étienne for around €5m, with the 18-year-old forward joining officially in January and

N'Guessan came through Saint-Étienne's academy and has made 13 first-team appearances, scoring once. His numbers for France's Under-17s tell a different story: 11 goals in as many matches, four of them at the 2025 European Under-17 Championship, where he was named in the team of the tournament as France reached the final.

Liverpool will decide in January whether to bring him straight to Anfield or leave him at Brest for the second half of the campaign. The club do not expect him to be ready to contribute immediately, which is why the loan is built into the deal from the start.

There is a case for cover up front. Hugo Ekitiké remains injured, and Aleksandr Isak is currently first-choice striker. Isak scored twice in nine minutes in Andoni Iraola's first match in charge, a 2-0 win over Ipswich, so the immediate pressure on the position has eased for now even as the queue behind him stays unsettled.

N'Guessan is the second young player Liverpool have agreed to sign this week, after goalkeeper Lucca Brughmans, who arrives for a low initial fee that could rise to £30m. Goalkeeper Armin Pesci, centre-backs Mor Talla N'Diaye and Ifeanyi Ndukwe, and midfielder Samuel Martinez have all joined in the past 12 months as part of the same recruitment push by Liverpool's Global Talent team.

None of this changes Liverpool's attacking options this season — N'Guessan will be playing in Ligue 1, not the Premier League. What it does is give the club a stake in a forward they rate highly enough to pay for now and assess later, with the January review the moment that decides whether he is judged ready for Anfield or needs another season in France.