The official transfer fee for Liverpool's deal to sign Naby Keita has been confirmed after RasenBallsport Leipzig's last league game of the season. According to the Liverpool Echo, the Guinean international's move to Merseyside will set the club back a princely sum of £52.75m, due to the German's team qualification for the Europa League with a sixth-place finish.
The deal, which was originally struck last summer, meant that the final fee depended upon their league finish this season. Had Leipzig finished in the top-four, then Liverpool would have been obliged to pay a higher price of £59m for the midfielder, while failure to qualify for any European competition next season would have seen the fee drop to £48m.
A convincing win in Berlin was a bitter-sweet end to the season
Die Roten Bullen was victorious in a breathless encounter with Hertha Berlin, winning an exciting and entertaining final-day game 6-2, but it wasn't enough to earn Champions League Football for a second successive season. Hoffenheim's victory and subsequent leapfrog in the table over Borussia Dortmund, combined with Bayer Leverkusen's home win over Hannover 96, meant that RBL missed out on a top-four finish by just two points.
Naby Keita 23, played well in his 76 minutes on the pitch in his final game for the club but didn't get his name on the score-sheet for the perfect send-off. Ademola Lookman, on-loan from the Reds' cross-city rivals Everton, managed what the Guinean couldn't, netting in the eighth minute to put his side 2-1 ahead.
Keita will want to play in the Champions League, but Liverpool have to qualify first
If Keita had chosen to reject the Reds' advances last year and stayed in the Bundesliga with RBL, he would definitely have missed out on his UCL dream for the next campaign. He may not have it even with Liverpool - Jurgen Klopp's side has not yet guaranteed Champions League football for next season.
They will take comfort, however, that they still have two bites of the cherry to achieve their goal, with their Premier League showdown against Brighton on Sunday and a certain date in Kiev against Real Madrid at the end of the month. Victory in either will ensure that Keita arrives at Anfield in July that bit happier with the start of his new English adventure.
Before that adventure begins, the midfielder will watch his future teammates in action in Kiev, with the Liverpool Echo reporting that Klopp has invited his newest player along to the game.
