It’s been a tough summer for Liverpool.
They may have signed Mohamed Salah for £34 million and snapped up Dominic Solanke from Chelsea but they face a tough fight to sign their two top transfer targets.
They shot themselves in the foot over the pursuit of Virgil van Dijk after being reported by Southampton for their illegal approach of the Dutch defender.
While the Reds apologised and withdraw their interest at the time, it seems they’re still keen to sign the 26-year-old.
But another player they appear set to miss out is Red Bull Leipzig’s Naby Keita.
The Bundesliga club are remaining incredibly stubborn and have rejected a €75 million bid from the Merseysiders for the midfielder.
Bild's latest report
However, the latest report from Germany suggests that Leipzig are starting to crack.
Keita hit headlines this week for a crunching tackle on teammate Diego Demme and was made to publicly apologise for his behaviour. And Bild are suggesting that the club have performed a U-turn in their stance that Keita won’t leave.
The German outlet are claiming that sports director Ralf Rangnick is studying reports of alternative midfielders and has sent his scouts to look for possible replacements for Keita as they prepare for life without him.
It was originally planned that a playmaker would be signed to play alongside Keita for one season to learn from the Guinean. However, it’s now believed that a midfielder will be signed to replace Keita as he edges closer to a move to Liverpool.
RB Leipzig remain stubborn
Despite this latest development, the club’s managing director Olivier Mintzlaff has explained the club are preparing for the new season with Keita in their plans.
He said: “RB Leipzig is looking forward to the next season together with Naby Keita.”
And Jurgen Klopp has previously expressed his frustration that Leipzig are proving extremely difficult to negotiate with.
“They don’t have to sell players. When I was at Dortmund we always had to sell players,” he said.
“Meanwhile, they don’t have to sell players any more so, obviously, I’m always a little bit too late.
“What can I say? There's nothing to say about this.”
It seems that this Keita saga is going to rumble on until the very end of the transfer window but Liverpool fans can have hope after Bild's latest report.