Belgium striker Divock Origi has held talks with Liverpool over a proposed move to Anfield but a deal still remains some way off.

It is understood the 19-year-old, who impressed at the World Cup, met with Reds officials and man­ager Brendan Rodgers at the club’s Melwood training ground yester­day (Wednesday) but negotiations are continuing and as yet no medi­cal has been scheduled.

A fee, believed to amount to about £10million (Dh63m) in total, has already been agreed with his club Lille but a reported approach from Tottenham may yet prove a stumbling block.

However, Liverpool’s interest has been long-standing and they re­main in pole position to secure the services of the talented youngster.

Origi was non-committal on his future when asked during an event in his home town of Houthalen- Helchteren staged to recognise his performances in Brazil.

“I myself am still thinking about it,” he said. “It is true that there are offers from all over Europe. Now I have to look carefully where I will grow as a player and as a person.

“I think things will be clearer within two weeks at the most.”

The transfer of Benfica winger Lazar Markovic is much more ad­vanced with the Serbia internation­al expected on Merseyside in the next 36 hours to finalise his move.

Having triggered the 20-year-old’s release clause of £20million (Dh126m) Markovic is heading to Merseyside for a medical and is likely to become manager Rodgers’ fourth signing of the summer af­ter Southampton duo Rickie Lam­bert and Adam Lallana and Bayer Leverkusen’s Emre Can.

Meanwhile, Chelsea have an­nounced the signing of midfielder Mario Pasalic from Hajduk Split.

The 19-year-old, who was named in Croatia’s provisional 30-man World Cup squad, joined Jose Mourinho’s squad for their first pre-season training session yester­day. “I am very happy because I am now a Chelsea player,” Pasalic told Chelsea’s official club website.

“I am very impressed by the training ground and I must thank everybody at Hajduk. This is now a new start in my career. I am a cen­tral midfielder, my favourite player is Frank Lampard, and so I am very happy to be a Chelsea player.”

Pasalic completed his first full campaign in senior football last season, scoring 11 times in 36 ap­pearances in all competitions and helping Hajduk finish third in the Prva HNL, Croatia’s top tier.