The potential steal of the German international comes not long after Liverpool’s pursuit of Alonso as Jurgen Klopp’s successor came to a halt, with the former Reds midfielder opting to stay committed to the Europa League finalists.

The news dashed any hopes of a fairy tale reunion between the 2005 Champions League winner and his former club. And now Liverpool find themselves potentially on the losing end in a transfer head-to-head with Alonso, who looks to have claimed the upper hand in the race for the VfB Stuttgart defender.

According to German broadcaster Sky Deutschland, Alonso has been in direct contact with the centre-back to convince him to join the reigning league champions.

The report claims that Alonso has made two personal phone calls to Anton, while a deal until 2028 has been mooted. No verbal agreements have been reached. Anton has a release clause between €20-25 million in his contract without a deadline.

The Reds made an enquiry regarding the potential signing of the 27-year-old earlier this summer, in hopes of replacing veteran defender Joel Matip who departed Liverpool this summer upon the expiry of his contract. Anton is one of several players who look set to depart Stuttgart after the team finished runners-up behind Alonso’s Leverkusen in the Bundesliga last season.

Slot faces plenty of competition to procure the German’s services, including Leverkusen and Dortmund. And now it looks like Leverkusen are in more advanced stages than any of their competitors as the race for the centre-back heats up, with Alonso set to scupper Liverpool’s summer plans.

Anton was included in Julian Nagelsmann’s 26-man squad for the summer’s European Championships and was an unused substitute in the hosts’ thumping 5-1 group stage victory over Scotland. The defender faces fierce competition in the German backline, with Antonio Rudiger, Jonathan Tah and Nico Schlotterbeck often preferred by Nagelsmann.