Leipzig shocked by Liverpool’s £48m-plus offer for Keita

RB Leipzig CEO Oliver Mintzlaff has admitted that the German club were shocked by Liverpool’s willingness to pay “significantly more” than the £48m release clause for Neby Keita.

Liverpool will buy the midfielder next summer after agreeing to pay a premium on Keita’s £48m release clause but his form this season will surely concern the Reds.

Keita was substituted during a nightmare Champions League debut in Turkey and has served a three-match suspension in the Bundesliga after a red card; his comeback on Saturday against Borussia Dortmund ended after 45 minutes.

“We would have never given Naby Keita away if it had not been for the release clause,” Mintzlaff told Kicker magazine.

“When we agreed on the clause, we did not presume that only after a few months there’d be a club willing to pay significantly more.”