Naby Keita’s Liverpool transfer explained: How much the deal will cost and why price is subject to change
Here's what you need to know about the club-record summer transfer
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Your support makes all the difference.Liverpool stand to make a huge saving on club-record signing Naby Keïta this summer, as the midfielder’s current club RB Leipzig continue to struggle in the Bundesliga.
Liverpool agreed a deal to sign Keïta in August, having activated a release clause in his contract which comes into effect at the end of the current season.
They paid an initial £48m to activate the clause – however the final value of the transfer is entirely dependent on where Leipzig finish in the Bundesliga table this season.
If Leipzig, who finished second behind Bayern Munich in the German top flight last season, finish in the top four Champions League places, Keïta’s valuation would jump to £59m.
However, that price drops down to £52.75m if the club finish in the automatic Europa League places, in either 5th or 6th.
And if Leipzig finish 7th or below, Keïta’s price tag drops further, reverting back to the initial £48m.
For the majority of the season, Leipzig have alternated between second and third place with Schalke 04, but Ralph Hasenhüttl’s team are currently on a torrid run of form, winning just two of their last nine Bundesliga games.
They are without a win this month and have lost their last two home matches emphatically – going down 4-1 to Bayer Leverkusen and then last weekend falling to a shock 5-2 defeat to Europa League chasing Hoffenheim.
The poor run of form has seen Leipzig slip all the way down to sixth, just one point ahead of the impressive Eintracht Frankfurt in seventh.
Leipzig have only three league games left this season to arrest their poor run of form – with Liverpool’s accountants no doubt eagerly watching on to see whether they dip below their current position.
The one ray of hope for Leipzig is their relatively kind run-in: they travel to 15th place Mainz this weekend, before games against mid-table Wolfsburg and Hertha Berlin.
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