After finishing fourth in the Premier League last season, Liverpool will hope to safely get past their Champions League play-off tie at the beginning of the upcoming campaign.

As a result, manager Jurgen Klopp is looking to bolster his squad with some new recruits, but it's fair to say that not everything has gone to plan so far.

The Reds have signed England Under-20 World Cup winner Dominic Solanke from Chelsea as well as Mohamed Salah from Roma in a deal reportedly worth up to £37 million.

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However, Liverpool were forced to apologise to Southampton after a "misunderstanding" with regards to main transfer target Virgil van Dijk and swiftly ended their interest in the centre-back.

Another man on Klopp's wishlist is Naby Keita, but the Merseyside club have been dealt a major blow in their bid to bring in the highly-rated central midfielder.

Keita's 2016-17 season

Keita joined RB Leipzig last summer from sister-club Red Bull Salzburg and helped the newly promoted Bundesliga side exceed all expectations and then some.

The 22-year-old produced a string of very impressive performances as Leipzig secured a remarkable second-place finish in the league, behind only perennial champions Bayern Munich.

In total, Keita played 31 games, scoring eight goals and providing seven assists from the middle of the park, establishing himself as the heartbeat of Ralph Hasenhuttl's side in the process.

Liverpool receive big blow in Keita pursuit

Klopp is a massive admirer of the Guinean international and was even reported that Liverpool are willing to break their club record with a whopping £70 million offer for the midfielder.

However, RB Leipzig's sporting director Ralph Rangnick gave Liverpool a big setback in their pursuit of Keita when he spoke at the unveiling of their own new signing Jean-Kevin Augustin.

The 59-year-old, who has managed Leipzig and Schalke in the past, said, via The Mirror: "We will definitely not be letting any key players go. There's nothing that will make us budge."

Rangnick continued: "It's totally normal for clubs to be interested in our players, but that doesn't affect our stance on the matter."

He went on to add, via Goal: "There are no players in our squad who have an exit clause. There are a lot of reports about there being a certain figure where we could be open to a sale.

"But they are all false. We are not selling anyone, even if we are talking about a three-figure transfer fee and the players know that.

“I have already said that before and nothing has changed in that aspect. There is no reason for the players to leave, we have directly qualified for the Champions League.”

So, Leipzig's position seems pretty clear - they are not even willing to listen to any offers for their star men, from Germany striker Timo Werner to Liverpool target Keita.

While the Premier League giants remain very interested in bringing Keita to Anfield this summer, these latest comments suggest it will be pretty difficult for them to do so.

Do YOU think Keita would be a good signing for Liverpool this summer? How likely is a transfer after these comments? Have YOUR say in the comments box below!