Emre Can is out of contract at the end of the season and appears set to leave Liverpool on a free transfer.

Juventus have seen off serious competition to land Emre Can on a free transfer from Liverpool, according to reports in Italy.

Il Correire dello Sport (h/t Calciomercato) has alleged that the Germany international is so keen to join the Italian giants that he spurned the advances of Manchester City and Bayern Munich to move to Turin.

The current Premier League and Bundesliga leaders wanted to try and beat I Bianconeri to the punch for Can's signature, but the 23-year-old wasn't interested in joining either.

One would assume that Can wanted assurances of regular minutes from each interested party and, with City and Bayern laden with midfield stars already, Juve seemed like the best option for Can at this point in his career.

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp had hoped to convince Can to remain at Anfield beyond the end of his current contract, which is due to expire in June.

However, the ex-Bayer Leverkusen man wasn't interested in putting pen to paper on fresh terms with the Reds, and appears to be edging closer to a move to Juventus every single day.

Liverpool have already lost one midfield star in the form of Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona in the January transfer window, with Klopp's side picking up £142m from his sale.

There was the possibility of Liverpool opting to cut their losses and sell Can for a cut-price fee this month rather than lose him for nothing in the summer, but that would prove to be too much of an upheaval for them.

Juventus do have an array of central midfielders at their disposal currently, but a few of their crop are now the wrong side of 30 and manager Max Allegri will be looking to the future with Can's arrival.

Blaise Matuidi, Claudio Marchisio and Sami Khedira are over 30 years of age and Can would likely start alongside Miralem Pjanic in midfield with the pair at the right age to form a suitable partnership for years to come.