Marouane Chamakh has agreed to join Liverpool in a £25million deal, sources in the British media are claiming.

The highly rated Bordeaux striker has been a target for Premier League title contenders Arsenal, Spain's Sevilla and Italian giants Inter Milan in recent weeks, but, according to the Daily Mirror newspaper, the Anfield side have beaten their rivals to the punch by offering a massive pre-contract agreement to the 26-year-old Morocco international.

Rafa Benitez now intends to offload more players during the current transfer window in a bid to finance the move, a transfer that is likely to cost Liverpool some £12million in signing on fees, as well as a contract that would see Chamakh net £60,000 a week in wages. The entire transfer would amount to £25million over five years.

The news comes just over a week after Chamakh revealed that despite intense lobbying from Arsenal, he was determined to take his time before deciding which club to join.

"Even though Arsenal are pressurising me to join them this month, I will take my time and I am going to finish my season with Bordeaux," he told The People.

"There is also interest from Sevilla and Inter Milan."

Chamakh is out of contract with Bordeaux, the reigning Ligue 1 champions, this summer, and has opted to become a free agent so as to receive a massive signing on fee instead of commanding a transfer fee.

With Liverpool's season apparently lurching from one crisis to another, the club's hierarchy have decided not to enter the transfer market this month, opting instead to save the money the money they have already received from the sale of Andrea Dossena to Napoli and Andriy Voronin to Dinamo Moscow - and the impending sale of one or two other star names - in order to finance the Chamakh deal.

The approach reflects Benitez's new desire to purchase good young players instead of fringe squad players, a tactic that has, for the most part, been a distinct flop.