According to reports in the press, Liverpool are said to be interested in signing Athletic Bilbao defender Fernando Amorebieta. The Reds reportedly deputed scouts to Bilbao’s Spanish Super Cup game against Barcelona to watch the 24 year old centre back.

Amorebieta started off with Bilbao’s feeder club CD Baskonia in 2003, and moved to Bilbao Athletic a year later. Bilbao Athletic, for the uninitiated, is often referred to as Athletic Bilbao’s B team.

Amorebieta has made over a 100 appearances for Athletic, and was also called up to the Spanish national team by Vicente Del Bosque. He has however not yet made his debut for La Furia Roja.

Reports suggest that a fee of around €11.5m could be demanded by Bilbao. Liverpool have already made one defensive signing in the form of Glen Johnson, and were heavily linked with Hull City’s Michael Turner, but were put off by the Tigers’ asking price.

Liverpool started their Premier League title challenge in unconvincing fashion as they lost 2-1 to Tottenham Hotspur.  The Reds need to bring in signings to increase their squad strength- they were forced to bring in young Ayala to replace the injured Skrtel in the game against Spurs.

Amorebieta was born in Valencia, but was raised in Spain. Both his parents are from the autonomous Basque country region in the north of the country.