Liverpool face stiff competition for Schalke defender Kyriakos Papadopoulos.

The Greece international is this season playing on-loan with Bayer Leverkusen and is expected to be sold by Schalke this summer with just over a year to run on his deal.

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers has been a long-term admirer and is making a fresh move for Papadopoulos.

However, Süddeutsche Zeitung says the Reds will face competition from big spending VfL Wolfsburg and Atletico Madrid for the 23 year-old centre-half.

Bayer are also open to making Papadopoulos' loan deal into a permanent transfer.