Going for a $lick deal
Reds ready to pay premium for Keita’s early arrival
London: Liverpool are ready to use some of the £142mil (RM769mil) from the sale of Philippe Coutinho to bring Naby Keita (pic) to Anfield early.
The Reds have already secured a deal with Red Bull Leipzig for the midfielder to join them for £55mil (RM296mil), with him spending the rest of the campaign playing for the Germans.
However, Juergen Klopp would like Keita on Merseyside now and is reportedly ready to pay a premium fee to get him early, according to the Mirror.
The 22-year-old is also understood to be willing to speed up his switch to England and come to the Premier League now.
But Leipzig are going to take some persuading to allow that to happen this month.
The Bundesliga club missed out on qualification for the last 16 of the Champions League and face a huge fight to finish in the top four again this season. Liverpool are prepared to wait until July 1 for the African star to officially join.
But they are still believed to be ready to test Leipzig’s resolve by offering £13mil (RM70mil) extra to get him now, according to Bild. And a report in the German publication claims that they could be willing to let him leave within the next three weeks – despite refuting that on several occasions in public.
It is said that Leipzig may need to raise funds to comply with UEFA’s Financial Fair Play and would be open to doing a deal for between £13mil-£17.5mil (RM94mil).
Liverpool would not find that kind of fee hard to come given Coutinho’s departure to Barcelona.
Klopp has already shelled out £75mil (RM404mil) to bring in defender Virgil van Dijk from Southampton and could be tempted to bolster his squad further with Keita. The Guinean would be Cup-tied for the Champions League but could help Liverpool in their pursuit of a top-four finish and in the FA Cup.
Since the deal for Keita was confirmed, many have criticised his performances for Leipzig.
And the report in Bild also says that the enforcer has been ostracised by his teammates.