Liverpool have pulled off a coup with the signing of prolific England youth international striker Bobby Duncan from Manchester City.

The Whiston-born 17-year-old frontman, who is the cousin of Kop legend Steven Gerrard, has signed a three-year professional contract.

The Reds have agreed a compensation package with City worth around £200,000 and he will start pre-season training at the Academy on July 2.It's the realisation of a dream for Duncan, who is a lifelong Liverpool fan and desperate to follow in the footsteps of Gerrard.

The ECHO understands he spurned interest from the likes of Tottenham, Juventus, Monaco and Roma because his heart was set on playing for the Reds.

His career has been in limo since he parted company with City last August after turning down their offer of a lucrative contract as he felt his pathway was blocked at the Etihad.

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City continued to hold his registration and joining Liverpool wasn't an option last term as a result of the transfer ban which prevented the Reds from signing players from other English academies.

Without a club, Duncan trained with Wigan Athletic's first-team squad and played in behind closed doors games under the guidance of manager Paul Cook.

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He continued to be picked by England Under-17s boss Steve Cooper and was part of the team which reached the semi-finals of last month's UEFA Under-17 European Championships.

(Image: Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

Liverpool initially feared it would be difficult to sign Duncan as a tribunal could have led to a fee in excess of £1million. But with City accepting that he had effectively lost a year of his career and only wanted to move for football reasons, lengthy negotiations finally resulted in a compromise being reached of around £200,000.

Duncan grew up in Huyton and now lives in Prescot. He spent time at both Liverpool and Everton when he was eight but wasn't taken on and ended up signing for Wigan before moving on to Man City at the age of 10.

He plundered an eye-watering 66 goals for City in the 2015/16 season. Back in November 2016, he became the first English player to score a hat-trick against Brazil at any level during a 4-3 win for the under-16s.