Liverpool bank £17m from sale of Marko Grujic and Taiwo Awoniyi
Liverpool have banked £17million from the sale of Marko Grujic and Taiwo Awoniyi.
Grujic, the Serbia midfielder, underwent a medical with Porto on Tuesday and has completed a £10.5m move to the Portuguese club, where he spent last season on loan.
Nigerian striker Awoniyi had a medical on Tuesday with Union Berlin and has joined the Bundesliga side for a club record £6.5m fee.
Liverpool are understood to have clauses in both deals that will entitle them to a 10 per cent sell on fee in the event either player is sold in the future.
Grujic, 25, made just 16 appearances for Liverpool after signing from Red Star Belgrade for about £4m in 2016.
The Serb was eager for regular first team football and the prospect of Champions League football with the World Cup finals less than 18 months away. Porto beat off stiff competition from rivals Sporting Lisbon, who had a €7m bid rejected earlier in the window, and Sassuolo to sign Grujic.
Sassuolo made a firm approach for Grujic although the situation was dependent on the sale of Italy midfielder Manuel Locatelli, who is wanted by Juventus and Arsenal.
Liverpool have made around £6.5m in profit from Grujic’s sale and earned in excess of £3m from loan fees following stints at Cardiff, with whom he won promotion to the Premier League, and Hertha Berlin.
Awoniyi, 23, was signed in 2015 for £300,000 after impressing in an Under-20 tournament with Nigeria meaning Liverpool have also made a profit in excess of £6m on him.
He was initially loaned to FSV Frankfurt in Germany after being unable to gain a work permit in the UK before spending time at Mouscron and Gent in Belgium. He spent the 2019/20 campaign with Jurgen Klopp’s former club Mainz before impressing on loan with Union Berlin last season that led to a permanent approach.
Grujic and Awoniyi’s sales take Liverpool’s summer transfer income to £21.6m. Goalkeeper Kamil Grabara and forward Liam Millar have already left for Copenhagen and Basel respectively.
