Liverpool had hoped to bring forward the transfer of Naby Keita, arranged for summer, but his club RB Leipzig say that won’t happen this month.
Following on from the sale of Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona, there had been speculation that the Reds would bolster their midfield this month with Keita.
Reports at the end of the week suggested the Reds could pay between €10-20 million extra to make the deal happen six months earlier.
But now the Bundesliga club appear to have drawn a definitive line under the possibility of an early exit.
“Naby Keïta will remain an RB Leipzig player until 30th June 2018.” they announced via Twitter.
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
Sporting director Ralf Rangnick added: “We won’t allow Liverpool to sign him early, even though they have shown renewed interest to bring him in during this transfer window.”
Keita played and scored for his side on Saturday in a 3-1 win over Schalke, moving Leipzig back up to second place in the German top flight.
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