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Ian Ayre is to be promoted to the role of chief executive at Liverpool FC – as the club looks to close in on a deal for Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Emre Can.

Ayre is to be rewarded for his work as managing director, and before that as commercial director, with an improved contract at the club.

He becomes the first permanent CEO the club has employed since Rick Parry, who left in 2009.

Among Ayre's successes are his role in persuading Luis Suarez to remain at Anfield last summer.

He is also credited with vastly improving the club's commercial performance, helping to secure landmark sponsorship deals with the likes of Warrior Sports and Standard Chartered.

The 51-year-old is currently working on a number of transfer deals, and could tie up a move for Can, the 20-year-old Leverkusen starlet, by the end of the week.

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