Bayern Munich pulled out of a deal to sign Naby Keita this spring when they found out he’d only be attainable in 2018 and not this summer just gone, report German outlet Kicker.
Their article claims that Liverpool have agreed to pay €70m, €15m more than his release-clause, to insure the Guinean arrives at Anfield next summer.
Overall, including Keita’s wages for the duration of his six-year contract, we will be spending between €130m and €150m on the player, they say…
The risk in this is that there’s no insurance inserted into the deal in case of a truly debilitating injury the 22-year-old could suffer this season.
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When Bayern realised this, they stopped their chase for reasons of ‘commercial integrity’, but Jurgen Klopp was so desperate to secure the midfielder, Liverpool committed to a deal anyway.
This is a bold strategy and hopefully one that’ll pay off when Keita arrives.
He’s been tremendous for Rb Leipzig so far this term and is not a player with a history of injuries.
Ideally, he’ll continue impressing for the Germans and arrive on Merseyside an even better player than he is already.
And Bayern will forever think about what could have been…