Done deal: Arsenal defender Mustafi joins Schalke - Kabak free to leave for Liverpool

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Liverpool are working on signing Schalke defender Ozan Kabak, according to information aquired by Sky. The English titleholders reportedly favour a six-month loan with an option to buy in the summer. The loan fee is said to amount to around €2.8 million. German newspaper Bild report that the whole deal, including the option to buy, would amount to around €30 million.

Update 12:10 pm GMT: According to Turkish news agency DHA, Kabak is on his way to undergo a medical at Liverpool and subsequently sign a loan contract running until the end of the season. The Reds will reportedly have an option to make the deal permanent in the summer.

Update 1:45 pm GMT: The Kabak deal will go right down to the wire. According to well connected British journalist Chris Williams, Schalke have agreed terms with Mustafi. The Times journalist Paul Joyce highlighted that Schalke will not agree on a Kabak deal without securing Mustafi first. Williams also points out that Schalke and Liverpool are still debating some smaller details regarding the Kabak deal. While Schalke would like an obligation to buy anchored in the contract, Liverpool would prefer the loan deal to be with an option to buy.

Update 3:15 pm GMT: According to information acquired by Transfermarkt, Mustafi’s transfer to Schalke 04 is a done deal. The 2014 World Cup winner will strengthen the Royal Blues until the end of the season and is set to complete his Schalke medical on Tuesday. His contract with Arsenal, which is expiring in the summer, will be terminated. This also clears the way for Kabak to join Liverpool.

Kabak would be the second centre-back to arrive at Anfield on Monday after the club reached a deal to sign Ben Davies from Preston and following the failed transfer of Duje Caleta-Car, which has been vetoed by Olympique Marseille, as RMC Sport und L'Équipe reported.

The basic prerequisite for the deal is that Schalke find a replacement for the Turkey international – the German transfer window already closes at 5 pm GMT. Sky names Shkodran Mustafi (28), whose contract at Arsenal ends in the summer, as a candidate. “The fact is that Shkodran will leave the club in the summer at the latest,” father and agent Kujtim Mustafi (SBE Management AG) most recently said in an interview with Transfermarkt. Consequently, the Gunners would probably not put any obstacles in the way of the World Cup winner in case of an inquiry from Germany on Deadline Day. A contract termination is currently negotiated in London, with a loan until the end of the season also being a possibility. Mustafi is understood to have agreed to a move in principle.

Kabak is by far the most valuable player in Schalke’s squad, but has hardly been able to fulfil his potential in a turbulent season – among many disappointments, his performance is probably the biggest. The young centre-back has seemingly not risen to the occasion at Schalke and could return to the form that made him one of Europe’s most valuable defensive talents in a calmer environment at Anfield.

Liverpool target Kabak set to leave - Schalke threatened by relegation

In the event that S04 fail to avoid relegation, Kabak (contract running until 2024) will surely be sold and under head coach Jürgen Klopp he would play on one of the biggest stages in the world. Schalke paid €15 million for Kabak to VfB Stuttgart in the summer of 2019, who signed him for €11 million from Galatasaray just six months earlier – in 2020, the Royal Blues reportedly rejected a €20 million offer from AC Milan.