Unluckyyyyyyy…
RB Leipzig have today put rumours of Naby Keita moving to Liverpool this January to bed, announcing that he will remain with Leipzig until the summer transfer window.
OFFICIAL: Naby #Keïta will remain an #RBLeipzig player until 30th June 2018. We wish to put the speculation about a January move to @LFC to bed. pic.twitter.com/Cilx09m24e
— RB Leipzig English (@RBLeipzig_EN) January 14, 2018
Liverpool and RB Leipzig agreed on a deal last summer which would see Keita moving to Anfield in the summer of 2018, but after the departure of Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona this window, Liverpool were keen to accelerate the move.
The Reds will sorely miss Coutinho’s creativity and were hoping that Keita could step into his shoes. Their midfield options now include just Jordan Henderson, Emre Can, Adam Lallana, Georginio Wijnaldum and James Milner.
The two clubs have been locked in negotiations for an extra fee that would see the move brought forward to this window as opposed to the summer, with conflicting reports surfacing about when the transfer would eventually go through.
An announcement from Leipzig’s Twitter account today confirmed that the Guinea international will remain in Germany until the summer when he will take Steven Gerrard’s old number 8 shirt at Liverpool.
Liverpool fans were sold false hope on Saturday when Naby Keita’s muted celebration hinted at an early exit. But today they received a second piece of bad news after it was announced that Virgil van Dijk will miss this afternoon’s match against league leaders Man City.
