LIVERPOOL are set to win the race to bring French defender Aly Cissokho to the Premier League.

According to reports in Spain, Cissokho will join Liverpool on a season-long loan from Valencia for a fee in the region on £900k.

Brendan Rodgers would then have the option to sign the player permanently at the end of the season for a further £3.5m.

Sunderland were also thought to hold an interest in bringing Cissokho to England, but Liverpool are now favorites as they seek to add competition to Jose Enrique at the left-back slot.

Cissokho would be the latest player to join Liverpool from Spain this summer, following the arrivals of Luis Alberto and Iago Aspas.

Cissokho only joined Valencia last season from Lyon for a fee in the region of £6m, but has failed to replicate his form from his time with Les Gones, or at Porto prior to that, and now looks set to try and revive his career with Liverpool.

Cissokho's form at Porto saw him agree to a 15m-euro transfer to AC Milan, only for the move to fall through at the medical stage, bizarrely due to problems with the player's teeth that Milan doctors said hinted at spinal problems.

Despite reported interest from Arsenal, Cissokho subsequently moved to Lyon, where concerns about his health proved unfounded and he won his sole  French international cap, before joining Valencia last summer.

Source: Daily Express