Football
ESPN staff 7y

'Lucky' that Leipzig don't have to sell Naby Keita - Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp

RB Leipzig are "lucky" they don't need to sell star midfielder Naby Keita, according to Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp.

The Guinea international has been targeted by the Premier League club, who have recently seen a €75 million bid rejected by the Bundesliga outfit.

The outlay for the 22-year-old would have represented a record transfer for the Reds, but Red Bull co-owner Dietrich Mateschitz said on Wednesday the club "won't sell players who are still under contract just to earn a lot of money."

And Klopp on Thursday called Leipzig fortunate for their strong financial standing.

"Mr Mateschitz? What did he say? Lucky man, huh?" Klopp told outlets in the UK.

"They don't have to sell players. When I was at [Borussia] Dortmund we always had to sell players.

"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."

Liverpool were forced to apologise for tapping up Southampton centre-back Virgil van Dijk earlier this summer, calling the club in for criticism with their poor handling of the potential transfer. 

Of the episode, Klopp said: "I didn't even know that I was criticised, that I'm still criticised.

"Was the club criticised? That's not nice. We said apologies, done. How can we say anything more about this?"

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