Liverpool prepared to break transfer record to sign Olivia Smith

Liverpool are hopeful of signing Canadian teenager Olivia Smith this summer and are willing to break their club record transfer fee to do so.

They need to pay a release clause of around €250,000 (£210,000) to break Smith’s contract at current Portuguese club Sporting CP.

The Reds have made Smith their priority summer target and have been in positive negotations for several months.

They are confident of beating several top clubs to her signature and are in a position to break their existing WSL transfer record which saw striker Sophie Roman Haug join for around £100,000 from Roma last summer.

Smith, 19, plays as a forward or an attacking midfielder for the Canadian national team.

She signed her first professional contract with Sporting CP in 2023, joining on a three-year deal.

The teenager scored and assisted on her league debut and was voted Player of the Year and Young Player of the Season in Liga BPI with 13 goals in 18 appearances.

In 2019, Smith became the youngest player to feature for Canada’s senior national team at the age of 15 years and 94 days and she was part of their Women’s World Cup squad last year.

Smith would be considered an exciting addition as the Reds look to build on last season’s successful campaign in which they finished fourth in the WSL.

She could be the first of a few signings at Liverpool this summer after the club confirmed defender Emma Koivisto, midfielder Miri Taylor and forwards Melissa Lawley and Shanice van de Sanden departed upon the expiry of their contracts.