LONDON, Sept 19 ― Liverpool have signed Spain midfielder Thiago Alcantara from Bayern Munich on a long-term contract, the Premier League champions said yesterday.

British media reported Thiago signed a four-year deal with Liverpool after the Merseyside club agreed a transfer fee worth £20 million (RM106.3 million) plus £5 million in add-ons with European champions Bayern.

Thiago, 29, won the Bundesliga title in each of his seven seasons with Bayern and played in last month's Champions League final victory over Paris St Germain.

"I think it's an amazing feeling. I was waiting for this moment for a long time and I am very, very happy to be here,” Thiago told the club's website https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/first-team/408961-liverpool-fc-complete-signing-of-thiago-alcantara.

"When the years are passing, you are trying to win as much as you can ― and when you win, you want to win more. I think this club describes what I am as well... I want to achieve all of the goals, win as many trophies as possible.”

Thiago, capped 39 times by Spain, becomes Liverpool's second new recruit after Greece left back Kostas Tsimikas joined the club last month.

He will join an already-bulging Liverpool midfield alongside Jordan Henderson, Georginio Wijnaldum, Fabinho, Naby Keita, James Milner, Curtis Jones, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Xherdan Shaqiri and Marko Grujic.

Liverpool began their league title defence with a 4-3 victory over Leeds United on the opening weekend, and manager Juergen Klopp expects Thiago to adapt quickly to the English game.

"He just was ready for a new challenge and he decided for us,” Klopp said.

"And that's a compliment actually because he knows the Premier League is tough but he wants to come to the Premier League.

"We played against him when we played Munich in the Champions League two years ago, so he knows what kind of machine we can be and he wanted to be part of that.” ― Reuters