Today in Keita: He Needs To “Force His Way Out”

Liverpool want Guinean midfielder Naby Keita. Leipzig don’t want to sell. Water is wet. These are all facts that we know to be true.

As if we needed more evidence of the first two facts (hint: we didn’t), Paul Joyce of The Times reported this morning that Energy Drink Leipzig contacted Liverpool yesterday specifically to state that Keita would not be leaving the club.

This, in turn, led Joyce to speculate that the only way a transfer is likely to be completed is if the player agitates for a move, presumably with a transfer request. Though, with Keita reportedly already having several meetings with the club’s executives, it is difficult to say what impact an official transfer request would have other than to make this whole transfer business even uglier than it already has been.

Again, nothing really new here, other than the report that Leipzig told Liverpool privately what they’ve already stated ad nauseum publicly.

You don’t want to sell one of your best young talents to Liverpool, regardless of price. We get it. Well, not really. We still want him.

The 22-year-old midfielder is expected to cost upwards of £50 million, with some placing the figure closer to £70 million. Obviously this wouldn’t just break Liverpool’s transfer record, but obliterate it. Still, the higher-ups at Liverpool do not seem put off by the eye-watering fees that will likely be necessary in order to get Keita and/or Virgil van Dijk deals over the line.

For those of us on the outside trying to read the tea leaves, it is hard to see this as a positive development.