For midfielder Moises Caicedo, Liverpool and Brighton have reached an agreement on a British record transfer fee of £111 million.
It is uncertain whether Chelsea will now match that sum after Brighton rejected a string of their offers.
Caicedo's asking price was over £100 million, and Brighton said no one would pay that amount.
However, Liverpool has already taken care of that, allowing the 21-year-old Ecuadorian international to visit a doctor.
Last month, Liverpool lost midfielders Jordan Henderson and Fabinho to the Saudi Pro League. Still, in June, they paid £35 million to buy Alexis Mac Allister, a teammate of Caicedo's from Brighton.
The price agreed upon for Caicedo is higher than the £107 million Chelsea spent earlier this year on Argentine midfielder Enzo Fernandez.
In February 2021, Caicedo transferred from Ecuadorian club Independiente del Valle to Brighton for £4 million. The contract also included a 20% sell-on clause. It wasn't until April 2022 that he made his Premier League debut.
Earlier this year, he requested to leave Brighton during the January transfer window. After that, Caicedo turned down several offers from Arsenal before agreeing to a new deal with the Seagulls that will keep him there until 2027 in March.
Liverpool's manager, Jurgen Klopp, has been considering different alternatives to restructure his team after they finished fifth in the Premier League and missed out on the Champions League last season.
However, the amount they are willing to pay for Caicedo is unexpected given that the club had stated in April that they would not pursue a deal for England midfielder Jude Bellingham due to the financial commitment.
Later, the 20-year-old signed a contract with Real Madrid worth up to 133.9 million euros (£115 million).
Romeo Lavia, a 19-year-old midfielder for Southampton, was also on Klopp's list of potential moves, but the Saints have turned down three offers from the Reds, who are thought to value the Belgian at £50 million.
Billy Hogan, the chief executive of the Reds, reportedly worked discreetly behind the scenes to secure this agreement while all the attention was on Chelsea's attempts to get Caicedo.
Hogan's strategy helped Liverpool land Caicedo, who Brighton sought because they thought he may develop into one of the best players in the world.
Chelsea out-negotiated and out-manoeuvred may have given Klopp access to one of the Premier League's most intriguing players, though at a price that reflects that.