The 20-year-old Benfica winger is poised to complete a transfer to Anfield over the coming days after the Merseyside club activated his release clause

By Paul Clennam

Lazar Markovic has flown to Liverpool to undergo a medical ahead of a €25 million move to Anfield.

The Benfica winger was pictured at Portea Aeroporto in Portugal on Saturday morning and is understood to be on his way to Merseyside.

Markovic was originally scheduled to fly in on Thursday after the Anfield outfit agreed to pay the €25m release clause in the player’s contract.

But the transfer is now set to be completed this weekend as Liverpool push ahead with summer recruitment plans following the £70m sale of Luis Suarez to Barcelona.

Lazar Markovic leaves Lisbon with brother Filip and agent Ulisses Santos to become €25m Liverpool player. #LFC #SLB pic.twitter.com/2P33yXalpS

— Duncan Castles (@DuncanCastles) July 12, 2014

Markovic, who turned 20 in March, was part of an impressive forward line which helped Benfica to a place in the Europa League final last season.

However, he did not play in the penalty shootout defeat to Sevilla after being sent off from the bench in the semi-final against Juventus following an altercation with Mirko Vucinic.

Liverpool are also close to completing deals for Southampton centre-back Dejan Lovren and Belgium international Divock Origi.

The Merseyside club has already signed Saints pair Adam Lallana and Rickie Lambert, and former Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Emre Can.

Brendan Rodgers is bolstering his squad as the club aim to maintain last season’s Premier League title challenge while competing in the Champions League.

The Uruguay international’s legal representative will continue to contest the four-month Fifa ban handed to his client

Luis Suarez’ lawyer has vowed to take his fight against the striker’s four-month ban to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after labelling the suspension “draconian and facist”.

The Uruguay international was also hit with a nine-match international ban and a €82,000 fine by Fifa for biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup

Appeals against the sanction from Suarez himself and the Uruguyan FA were rejected by Fifa this week, but his legal representative, Alejandro Balbi, isn’t ready to give up the fight.

“We knew that Fifa would uphold the ban because they are corporatists,” Balbi told Cope.

“We won’t stop, we are going to go to CAS and we will keep taking every legal path available to us.”

Suarez, who is set to leave Liverpool for Barcelona after the two clubs confirmed on Friday that an agreement had been reached over his transfer to La Liga, is banned from all football-related activity until October 26.

“It’s blatantly draconian, totalitarian and fascist,” Balbi said.

“The right of a footballer to do his job is being violated and football should be concerned about that.

“The nine international matches may seem excessive, but the fact that he can’t watch a game of football or train or do his job, we are talking about very unpleasant things here.”

The Liverpool captain has wished the controversial Uruguayan well in Spain following the announcement of his imminent €88 million move to Barcelona

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has paid tribute to Barcelona-bound Luis Suarez, labelling the striker “an amazing talent”.

It was announced on Friday that Liverpool and Barca had agreed a deal in the region of €88 million for the Uruguay star, who will sign a five-year contract after undergoing a medical at Camp Nou next week.

Suarez enjoyed a superb season in 2013-14, with his 31 goals and 12 assists in just 33 Premier League appearances firing Liverpool to the brink of the title.

Reds boss Brendan Rodgers spoke of his sadness at seeing Suarez leave Anfield, and skipper Gerrard has echoed his manager’s sentiments in a post on his Instagram profile.

“On an emotional day for me would just like to say what a pleasure it has been playing with an amazing talent such as Luis,” the 34-year-old wrote.

“I would like to thank him for his outstanding contribution on the pitch during his time @liverpoolfc and to wish him and his family all the best on his new adventure in Spain #lfclegend.” 

Suarez, who is currently serving a four-month global ban after he bit Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup, scored 82 goals in 133 appearances for Liverpool.