Naby Keita will stay at RB Leipzig until the end of the season despite Liverpool’s attempts to do a deal earlier.
The Reds have already secured a deal to take Keita to Anfield next summer, triggering his £48m buyout clause along with agreeing a premium fee on top of that on order the guarantee the move.
Jurgen Klopp had been trying to secure a deal which would have seen the Guinean move to Merseyside this month, but in the last few minutes, RB Leipzig have confirmed that the player will not be moving before the prearranged date of July 1st 2018.
A statement via the club’s twitter account said:
OFFICIAL: Naby Keïta will remain an RB Leipzig player until 30th June 2018. We wish to put the speculation about a January move to Liverpool to bed.
Meanwhile, Leipzig boss Ralf Rangnick added:
“We won’t allow Liverpool to sign him early, even though they have shown renewed interest to bring him in during this transfer window.”
Liverpool had been willing to pay up to £80m last summer, but the Bundesliga side were reluctant to sell at any price. The Reds have been trying to secure a deal, thought to be worth up to an additional €20m to bring Keita to the club this month rather than waiting until the summer, but it seems as though the Germans are remaining resilient.
💬 Ralf #Rangnick: "We won't allow @LFC to sign him early, even though they have shown renewed interest to bring him in during this transfer window." pic.twitter.com/aOGpRIe5r9
— RB Leipzig English (@RBLeipzig_EN) January 14, 2018