Liverpool have reportedly launched a third bid to sign Naby Keita from RB Leipzig. The Bild reports that we have submitted a bid of £74.2million for the 22-year-old Guinean.
We had already lodged two bids of £57million and £66million, which were rejected by the Bundesliga side. The second bid was rejected at the end of last week and it seems like we have submitted a final third bid to get our man.
The report also claims that our final offer includes £40million which will be paid up front to help complete the deal soon.
The 22-year-old was involved in a bit of an altercation during the training, as he took out a teammate after the midfielder was subject to a poor tackle earlier. That seemed like an act of someone who isn’t quite right in their frame of mind and many believed that Keita would be sold after this recent incident.
RB Leipzig are adamant in not wanting to lose him and have consistently told us that the player is not for sale. They are under no financial obligation to sell, however, there is a £48million release clause for the 22-year-old that will get activated next summer and thus he would be an easier acquisition for us, this time next year.
It does seem like this is our final throw of the dice and should the Bundesliga side not accept our offer for the player, we would have to think about signing him next summer.
However, it does look likely that we will sign him and Leipzig know that every player has a price. Keita’s won’t go any higher, given that we are the only ones looking to sign him at the moment.
Jurgen Klopp has made Keita’s signing a priority and if we don’t get the player, it will leave us with a massive gap to fill in our requirements. The 22-year-old would be perfect for our playing style and with a lot of European games ahead, we need extra help in the midfield.
Keita is inching closer to joining us at Anfield and the sooner we can wrap this up, the better it will be for our Premier League preparations.
