The 20-year-old winger is the Reds’ fourth signing of the summer following the acquisitions of Emre Can, Adam Lallana and Rickie Lambert, with further deals set to be confirmed

Liverpool have completed the signing of Benfica winger Lazar Markovic, the Portuguese club have confirmed, with the total fee believed to be in the region of €25 million [£19m].

Benfica declared that they have sold the 20-year-old’s sporting rights and the 50 per cent that they owned of the forward’s economic rights to the Reds for €12.5m (£9.9m).

Markovic becomes the Reds’ fourth summer signing following the acquisitions of Emre Can from Bayer Leverkusen and Adam Lallana and Rickie Lambert from Southampton.

The Serbia international scored seven goals for Benfica last season, although he was not involved in the club’s Europa League final defeat to Sevilla after he was sent off from the bench for a clash with Juventus’s Mirko Vucinic in the semi-final.

The 2013-14 campaign was just his third in senior football, having made the move to Portugal in 2013 following two seasons for Partizan Belgrade.

He had been linked with a move to Chelsea before completing that transfer to Benfica and the Blues were said to have kept tabs on the diminutive right winger over the past 12 months.

Markovic completed a medical on Merseyside over the weekend and late on Monday night posted a series of pictures on his official Facebook page revealing that the move had been rubber-stamped ahead of the club’s official confirmation.

Liverpool are keen to make a splash in this summer’s transfer window as they look to reinvest following the sale of Luis Suarez.

The Uruguayan striker, banned from any football-related activity until the end of October, will complete a move to Barcelona this week after an €88.5m [£70m] deal was agreed between the two clubs.

Suarez, though, cannot be officially unveiled to the club’s fans under the terms of his Fifa ban for biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini.

Liverpool are also in talks to sign Southampton defender Dejan Lovren and Lille striker Divock Origi, who made an impact at the World Cup for Belgium.

The Stoke City manager is keen to bring the winger back to the Britannia Stadium, where he impressed on loan over 2013-14, but says that the ball is in the Reds’ court

Stoke City manager Mark Hughes is still hopeful of securing the services of Liverpool winger Oussama Assaidi on a permanent basis.

The Moroccan spent last season on loan at the Britannia Stadium and enjoyed a relatively impressive campaign, the highlight of which came when he scored a spectcular goal to give his side a 3-2 win over Chelsea in December.

Hughes is keen to add another winger to his ranks but reports suggest that a move for Assaidi has stalled due to issues over fitness and the club’s finances.

“We are where we are on that one,” the Potters boss told The Sentinel. “Ideally, if we can do something then, yes, we will.

“He’s someone we know and someone we know can have an impact so, yes, we would like to see if something can be done with Ossie but obviously he isn’t our player and that means the ball is in Liverpool’s court.”

Hughes is pleased with Stoke’s business so far this summer, which has seen them bring in Mame Biram Diouf, Phil Bardsley, Steve Sidwell and Dionatan Teixeira, though the former Manchester City and Fulham boss is eager to make further additions before the start of the new season.

“People are coming back from the World Cup so things can move on quite quickly,” he added.

“We are still keen to add to the squad if the right quality at the right price is available but we are in a good place because of the early work already done.”

The Croatia international has declared that his “head is already at” Anfield, with the Reds hopeful of signing him, but he has now met up with Ronald Koeman’s squad in Belgium

Dejan Lovren has travelled with Southampton to Belgium for their pre-season tour despite his assertion that he wants to join Liverpool.

The Croatia defender has declared that “my head is already at Liverpool”, comments that did not please the Saints’ new manager, Ronald Koeman, but the former Feyenoord boss noted on Friday that the 25-year-old is a key player and that he was expecting him to join the squad for the trip even if he could yet leave.

Goal understands that the Reds are close to agreeing a deal to sign the centre-back but Koeman asserted his authority to bring Lovren to Belgium all the same.

“That [public comment about Liverpool] was not a good thing on his side,” the Saints manager told reporters on Friday.

“I spoke two times to Dejan. He was very clear about his situation. I said: ‘Okay, I am the new manager, I want to keep all the players’.

“I would like to keep Dejan in the team because he is an important player in an important position in the team. He has to come back on Sunday.”

And that he did, with Southampton posting a photo of him travelling to Belgium on the club’s official Twitter account on Sunday.

Southampton have already sold England trio Luke Shaw, Adam Lallana and Rickie Lambert since the season ended but Koeman has brought in winger Dusan Tadic and forward Graziano Pelle from Twente and Feyenoord, respectively.