The Siam Sport daily quoted Deputy Commerce Minister Pongsak Raktapongpaisal as saying the board of the Merseyside squad had agreed to sell off 30 per cent of its stake to Thaksin.

"The negotiation is complete, and Liverpool will sell a 30 per cent stake worth about 4.6 billion baht (115 million dollars)," Pongsak was quoted as saying.

"The signing ceremony will take place in Thailand on Monday," he added.

Thaksin, an avowed football fan who has long expressed interest in buying into a Premiership squad, was to pay for the stake out of his own pocket along with a group of unnamed private investors.

"The purchase does not involve the government," Pongsak said.

Mass circulation Thai Rath reported similar news but did not directly quote Pongsak, who had been appointed by Thaksin to represent the premier in the negotiations.

The deal would also see Thailand manage Liverpool's copyright agreements in Asia for merchandise and team tie-ins, including the training academy, the papers added.

Thai news outlets quickly latched onto the story and speculation mounted as to whether Thaksin would indeed buy into the fabled Premiership side.

Thai broadcaster iTV said it learned the share purchase was near completion and that a Liverpool team representative would meet with the premier Monday for final talks on the deal.

The channel aired footage of Thaksin at a Bangkok area golf course where he declined to divulge any details and said only that more would be revealed in the week ahead.

Neither Pongsak nor Thai national team coach Thawatchai Sajakul, an MP in Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai political party who was assigned to look into taking over a club, were available for comment.

Thaksin, a self-made billionaire who founded a telecommunications empire before entering politics, caused a stir last October when he held talks with Fulham owner Muhammed Al Fayed about buying the London squad.

Al Fayed quickly denied the club was for sale.