Red Bull Leipzig dynamo Naby Keita has been touted as a hot target for Liverpool.
The Guinea international helped his club to second in the Bundesliga in his debut season, scoring eight goals and grabbing eight assists in 31 league appearances.
The midfielder upped sticks from his hometown to pursue a career in France aged just 16, suffering several trial rejections before Austrian-side Red Bull Salzburg snapped him up in 2014.
Two successful years with the club, in which he scored 17 times in 59 games, earned him a move to franchise partners Leipzig in the club’s first season in the German top flight.
Keita’s remarkable campaign has attracted interest from top European outfits, with Liverpool being tipped as front-runners for his signature.
Initially, sporting club director Ralf Rangnick insisted the number eight wasn’t for sale and would be honouring his 2020 contract, but the player has since announced he would like to leave Germany. This means that it is increasingly unlikely that clubs will wait until next summer when a £48 million release clause is triggered in his contract.
Leipzig have reluctantly slapped a cool £70 million price tag on him and Jurgen Klopp is thought to be lining up a £45 million bid although thus far the Bundesliga outfit have declined to talk business with Liverpool.
If Leipzig are to hold out for their asking price, The Reds may have to venture elsewhere, with such a figure deemed too much for a man who cost just £12.75 million a year ago.
Klopp’s task will be to reach a compromise with the club in order to bring him to Anfield. Whether this will materialize remains to be seen.
