Skrtel undergoes Fener medical ahead of £5m move

Matt Stead

Martin Skrtel inched closer to leaving Liverpool for Fenerbahce on Wednesday after passing his medical ahead of a switch to the Turkish club.

The Slovakia captain, 31, arrived in Istanbul on Tuesday evening to finalise a transfer that will see him depart Anfield after eight years on Merseyside for a fee understood to be £5million.

Fener posted images of Skrtel and fellow prospective new signing Ismail Koybasi being put through numerous medical tests on their official website on Wednesday and, with that hurdle now cleared for both men, all that is left is to conclude personal terms with the pair.

Although he made over 300 appearances for Liverpool, Skrtel fell down the pecking order under Jurgen Klopp following a lengthy absence due to a hamstring injury and he is seen as surplus to requirements now Joel Matip has been recruited and Joe Gomez is fit again.

However, Klopp is still short of central-defensive options after revealing Mamadou Sakho may miss the start of the new season because of an Achilles injury.

Only last week Sakho, 26, learned that proceedings opened against him following a failed drugs test in March had been dropped by UEFA, meaning he is now free to play having served an interim 30-day ban which saw him miss the Europa League final and cost him a place in France’s Euro 2016 squad.

Yet Klopp has confirmed his central defender is now due to be sidelined for another month because of an injury which had been troubling him towards the tail end of the previous campaign.

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