Jurgen Klopp has ruled out any prospect of Naby Keita joining Liverpool from RB Leipzig in January.
A deal is in place for the highly rated midfielder to leave the Bundesliga side and move to Anfield at the end of the season.
Recent speculation has suggested the departure of the Guinea international could be accelerated, but Klopp, addressing the media ahead of Liverpool’s Premier League match away to Bournemouth on Sunday, emphatically rejected those reports.
Asked if Keita could arrive this season, Klopp replied: “No. He is a player of Leipzig.
“How do we deal with this? I thought we don’t speak about transfers.
“There is an agreement with the club that he will come in June or July to Liverpool.
“There is nothing else to say about that. We really don’t think about it because of all the things Leipzig have said.
“They said they do not have to sell any player [early]. Why should they do something like that?
“So no, we don’t think about it.”
