Peak January transfer window
With Philippe Coutinho gone and rumours that Liverpool were not planning to bring in a new goalkeeper in January, Reds fans needed a pick-me-up badly.
Well it briefly arrived on Friday evening because, according to reports in Germany, Naby Keita was suddenly expected to arrive at Anfield as soon as Sunday.
The RB Leipzig midfielder was originally supposed to officially become a Liverpool player in the summer, with the Bundesliga outfit determined to keep hold of Keita in order to secure Champions League football next season.
“We want to qualify for Europe again and we need Naby for that,” Leipzig sporting director Ralf Rangnick told Leipziger Volkszeitung in October.
Liverpool had agreed a £48 million plus deal in August but Leipzig were set to hang on to the 22-year-old for the duration of the season, unless the Merseyside club parted ways with an extra £13 million sweetener fee in January.
But it appeared that headway had been made this weekend, with suggestions that Keita would line out for Leipzig for the final time against Schalke on Saturday evening before heading to Liverpool to finalise his deal.
Reports in Germany claim Naby Keita will play his last game for RB Leipzig this weekend before joining Liverpool. #LFC #RBLeipzig
— Pete O'Rourke (@SportsPeteO) January 12, 2018
Excitement quickly grew among Reds fans when they discovered that Keita had registered his business in the United Kingdom earlier that day.
Jurgen Klopp would not be drawn into commenting on suggestions that the Guinea international was set to join up this month, which would go some way to filling the void left by Coutinho.
“My understanding is there is nothing to say about it,” Klopp said at his press conference. “When we had this conversation around Coutinho, I said there was nothing to say about it. I will not start doing that now.
“He’s a player of Leipzig, that’s what I know. And in the summer he will be here, that’s what I know. The rest, I have nothing to say.”
And hope was soon quashed by a journalist very close to the buying club as the Liverpool Echo’s James Pearce insisted that “no progression” had been made.
Still no agreement between RB Leipzig and #LFC over Naby Keita potentially moving to Anfield this month. In fact told there's been "no progression at all" following initial discussions.
— James Pearce (@JamesPearceLFC) January 12, 2018
The January transfer window is a wonderful thing, ain’t it?
