GUSTAVO POYET has confirmed that Liverpool have accepted Sunderland's £14m offer for Fabio Borini - and expressed a hope that he will be able to discuss personal terms with the striker as quickly as possible.

The Black Cats' bid, which is understood to include an initial down payment of around £10m, was accepted on Friday evening.

However, rather than travelling to the North-East to discuss personal terms on Saturday, Borini was part of the Liverpool side that beat Preston 2-1 in a pre-season friendly.

That has led to suggestions in the Italian press that Borini is reluctant to return to the Stadium of Light, having spent last season on loan with the Black Cats.

However, Poyet is confident that a deal will be completed, and is planning to meet Borini and his representatives to begin personal discussions once the necessary paperwork has been received.

“What I can inform you is that we have agreed terms with Liverpool," said the Sunderland boss, who saw his own side kick off their pre-season preparations with a 5-1 win over Darlington on Saturday. "We are now waiting for correspondence, and we will go from there. We’re just waiting.

“It’s an ongoing thing. We’ve done the steps that we needed to do properly, but the next step is that we are still waiting for the correspondence. Then we will go on from there, doing everything official, in the right way.

“I think (Fabio’s) impact is clear, as is the reason why we want to spend that quantity of money. We know how much he can give us because we know him perfectly. It would be perfect for us."