When Liverpool confirmed they had agreed a deal with RB Leipzig to sign Naby Keita back in August 2017, the fee they signed off on would have been a club-record transfer.
The Reds committed to paying his £48m release clause, which wasn’t due to become active until the summer of 2018 when he actually moved to Anfield, along with a small premium on top, dependent on the Bundesliga outfit’s Keita-aided final league position in the 2017/18 season. Liverpool would ultimately end up paying £52.75m for the midfielder, but by the time he officially linked up with his new side, that transfer record had already been smashed by the £75m arrival of Virgil van Dijk the previous January.
Having had to wait a year to actually see Keita in red, Kopites were understandably excited. Manager Jurgen Klopp had talked him up extensively and the unique nature of the deal agreed made it clear just how desperate Liverpool were to sign the Guinean. They had, after all, seen two bids rejected, with the second understood to be around £70m, for an immediate transfer before settling on an unorthodox compromise.
