Liverpool Transfer News
Our hunt for RB Leipzig’s Naby Keita could be coming to a halt according to German football expert Raphael Honigstein. The German was suggesting that the price quoted by the Bundesliga side, close to £70million (Source: Independent), ensures that they do not want to sell the Guinea international.
Keita had a breakout season for the German side and was one of their best players. Even though he is someone who plays in a deeper role, the 22-year-old came up with 8 goals and 7 assists from 31 Bundesliga games, which is a great record to have.
The midfielder has been compared to N’Golo Kante, thanks to his tackling and energy. But with a better output in front of goal, it is no surprise that many clubs are after his signature, including us.
Honigstein posted a tweet regarding our pursuit of the talented midfielder, claiming that it won’t be fruitful as the German side are pricing all the clubs out for Keita.
my hunch is they mean exactly what they say. they’re asking crazy money because they don’t want to sell – not to achieve a good price.
— Raphael Honigstein (@honigstein) June 25, 2017
Champions League football back on for Leipzig
There was hope that a lack of Champions League football for Leipzig could work in our favour as we looked to sign both Emil Forsberg and Keita. Leipzig’s participation in the tournament was in doubt as sister club RB Salzburg had also made it to the Champions League but UEFA recently ruled out the possibility of both clubs taking part.
With that obstacle cleared for the Germans they are now in a better position to keep hold of their stars such as Keita and even striker Timo Werner.
The price of Keita certainly is a bit high considering that he had just one great season with the Bundesliga side and we probably will have to search for another player that can do a similar role, as paying £70million for a central midfielder is certainly a crazy act.
We did sign Mohamed Salah for a club record fee and it is expected that we will break that this season too as we add more quality to our side ahead of a tough season.
We would have to play more games this season due to our European commitments and having Keita would certainly have give us a lot of quality in midfield. But we do have a number of players for the midfield roles and even if we do lose out on the Guinea midfielder, we just might have enough to do well this season.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X0pyJ8ReUg
