The 18-year-old will not officially become a Liverpool player until January, when his situation will be reviewed and a decision made on whether he stays at Brest for the rest of the campaign or moves to Merseyside immediately. St-Étienne have retained a sell-on clause as part of the agreement.
A product of St-Étienne's academy, N'Guessan made his senior debut in January 2025 and has gone on to feature 13 times for the club, scoring once. He impressed for France at last year's Under-17 European Championship, where he was named in the team of the tournament, and also featured seven times at the 2025 Under-20 World Cup.
Comparisons have already been drawn with Liverpool's own Hugo Ekitike given his combination of height, technical quality and composed finishing.
The move continues a pattern of recruitment through Liverpool's global talent department, headed by Matt Newberry, which was also behind the deadline-day capture of goalkeeper Lucca Brughmans in a deal that could rise to £30m.
Liverpool have been particularly active in recruiting teenage prospects from across the continent over the past year, having already signed Senegal centre-back Mor Talla N'Diaye and Austria's Ifeanyi Ndukwe after both impressed at this year's Under-17 World Cup in Qatar, alongside goalkeeper Ármin Pécsi from Hungary and midfielder Samuel Martínez from Colombia.
N'Guessan is expected to link up with Liverpool's Under-21 squad whenever he eventually completes his move, where he would compete for game time alongside academy prospects such as Jayden Danns. For now, though, the priority is regular senior football in Ligue 1, with Brest offering a proving ground before any decision is made on integrating him into Liverpool's plans.
The timing of the announcement reflects restrictions on how many players Premier League clubs can loan to overseas clubs at any one time, with Liverpool already at their limit of six. Any change to that picture over the coming months — Brughmans and Ndukwe are among those out on loan elsewhere — could influence whether N'Guessan stays with Brest for the full season or is brought into the fold sooner than planned.
Born to an Ivorian mother, N'Guessan has represented France at every age level from Under-16 upwards, scoring prolifically at youth level even as his senior opportunities have remained more limited.