Liverpool's £5.1m bid for Marko Grujic accepted by Red Star Belgrade

"Everyone at Red Star sincerely wanted Marko Grujic to wear our shirt for the next 10 years, but the financial situation of our club dictates that we have to make a different decision," says the club on their website.

The Serbia under-21 midfielder has been speaking to Liverpool about a move to Anfield over the past month with Red Star sporting director Zvezdan Terzic claiming the player was ready to inherit Steven Gerrard's iconic number eight shirt.

"We will, in the next three days, sign a contract with Liverpool," said Zvezdan Terzic on local television in Belgrade.

Having won the under-20 World Cup with his country last summer, Grujic was linked with a move to Inter Milan, Chelsea and Manchester United.

Grujic, 19, has been compared in style to Gerrard due to his high energy approach in rampaging from box-to-box. He has scored five goals in 21 appearances helping Red Star move 25 points clear at the summit of Serbia's SuperLiga.

It is unknown if the player will move to Liverpool next month with Red Star claiming he will undergo a medical with Liverpool and sign before being loaned back to them for the rest of the season with a loan fee of £730,000 touted.

Red Star said they had also have received offers from Belgian club Anderlecht and German side Stuttgart.

"The board considered the offer and unanimously accepted the offer of the English giants," said Red Liverpool will pay the money immediately, and the player would stay in Red Star until 01/07/2016."