Liverpool have confirmed that the Argentinian centre back Gabriel Paletta will join them from Atletico Banfield in the summer on a four-year deal - subject to medical - for a fee of around £2 million.
Paletta, who is 20 today, featured in the Argentina Under-20 world championship win last year and is regarded as a robust defender.
Equally significantly, he does not require a work permit as he qualifies for an Italian passport and can avoid the problems currently dogging the Chilean Mark Gonzalez - currently on loan at Real Sociedad and awaiting the arrival of a Spanish passport in the summer.
Paletta attracted interest from a number of clubs, River Plate among them, and would become the second Argentinian to join Liverpool following Valencia's Mauricio Pellegrino, who failed to impress in 12 appearances last season and has since signed for Alaves.
Yesterday's capture, which continues Rafael Benitez's strategy of recruiting a new young defence and follows the recent acquisitions of Dan Agger and Jan Kromkamp, brings the manager's spending to more than £50 million since he arrived at the club in June 2004.
Paletta flew into Liverpool on Monday and is one of more than a dozen under-21 players signed since last summer. In the past eight months alone Liverpool have recruited young players from Denmark, Austria, France, Chile, Spain, Ghana, England and Wales.
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