Naby Keita

VorZakone

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Strange deal.

They've essentially gambled and paid a premium to guarantee he joins them next year.

Are they not confident he'd join them next year without it being agreed already?

Imagine he gets a double leg break some time this season and they've committed to paying 60m+.

He's a good player and he'll be an improvement on Wijnaldum, but it's a strange deal imo.
I bet they've put in a clause for such situations. Liverpool aren't that stupid.
 

RobinLFC

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Imagine he gets a double leg break some time this season and they've committed to paying 60m+.
Imagine he has another stellar season and midfielders of his quality go for €100m+ next transfer window while we've committed to paying €60m+ :p
 

Acole9

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Strange deal.

They've essentially gambled and paid a premium to guarantee he joins them next year.

Are they not confident he'd join them next year without it being agreed already?

Imagine he gets a double leg break some time this season and they've committed to paying 60m+.

He's a good player and he'll be an improvement on Wijnaldum, but it's a strange deal imo.
I agree, why can't they just have him now rather than wait another year? Seems like a lot of money.
 

VorZakone

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I think those were stupid actions, just like panic buying someone for £35m and same as I think this is a bloody stupid way to sign a player.
What's stupid about it? They've secured Keita for next summer and like I said Liverpool will probably have had their lawyers set up clauses for incidents like a major injury.
 

Cristiano Lell

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Imagine he has another stellar season and midfielders of his quality go for €100m+ next transfer window while we've committed to paying €60m+ :p
Yeah but again.. his transfer fee would not go up a cent anyway..

The football world is a very variable landscape - it changes daily, let alone what will happen in ten months time.

If he has a great season again, the likes of Bayern would be sniffing around because of his €55m release clause and we might be out of the picture. You say "they'd be stuck with a player who'd rather join another side", but there won't be anyone interested in him or tapping him up since everyone now knows he's moving to Liverpool on July 1st. He's happy to join us now and he'll be happy to join us next Summer since there won't be any bids, interested clubs or transfer sagas anymore. It's basically a "buy and loan back" deal for us to lure Leipzig in doing business with us.

Liverpool: happy, they get the player Klopp wanted from the beginning even if it's only from next season onwards (long term planning, whenever Coutinho might leave). We also don't have to pay his release clause in full next year but can probably pay the fee in installments, which basically makes the extra €10m peanuts if so (don't know much about this financial side of meeting release clauses or paying in installments tbh but others have mentioned it). FSG keeps the fans happy, the perception of our transfer window is that it's been okay instead of a disaster, win win.

Keita: happy he got his move even if it's delayed by one season. He knows he'll still be at a big club with a phenomenal upgrade in wages even if he has a poor season or gets injured.

Leipzig: wanted to keep the player for one more season and they did that with this agreement. If he has a great one, they'd lose him next Summer for less money than they do now, his €55m release clause. If he has a disastrous season, they still get to shift their player for a very high fee.

I don't see how there are any losers in this deal. The medical had to be done apparently because it's obliged if players switch clubs or something like that, otherwise it would look daft indeed. I guess it's just general fitness, conditions, heart checkings amongst other basic things cos you can't account for future injuries of course.

If you want to call it insurance, fair enough. At least we have that insurance now that he'll be ours next season, something I'd highly doubt if this deal hadn't taken place this transfer window.
Well, thanks for the detailed post. I prefer that to being insulted without any regards to the points I make :lol:

Anyway, my first reaction was a bit over the top and indeed thinking about the arguments you put out has somewhat placated me.
But first, my reaction was not because I'm a 'rival fan' or 'bitter' or some such nonsense - I'm basically a Liverpool sympathizer as far as EPL goes, I knew long since about Keita's clause and also it was clear that he wanted to join you. So I thought it was incredibly stupid to pay so much more for something that will happen anyway.
I still actually feel that way, somewhat, though I realize there are arguments to justify this kind of deal.

Your argument that him signing officially will decrease, or nullify, the number of clubs approaching him in the meantime is a good one. However, it still smacks of a huge insecurity- you could just agree with the player about a next summer move and trust in this, it's strange that you pay a huge extra fee to Leipzig in order to get formal security about something that is actually between the player and your club.. do you understand what I mean? It's almost as if you're buying the player's will from a source that can't actually sell it. I mean, Leipzig will take the free millions gladly, of course :lol:

Then again, you're right both about the volatility of the football world, and possibly about the financial stuff not being that much of a difference- as I conceded earlier, maybe an increased demand for Keita from other big, or even bigger, clubs would drive up the signing bonus you'd have to pay (I suspect something like that happened with us and Lewandowski.. we had a 'gentleman's agreement' he would sign for us on a free, but Real tried to convince him to join them after all. He honoured his agreement to join us, but I'm fairly sure his agent made us pay for his 'loyalty' to match what Real would have offered)

The medical, yes granted, it's a formality, if you have decided to make the deal official. It still strikes me as absurd, probably because it sums up what I find absurd about the deal.
 

RobinLFC

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Yeah but again.. his transfer fee would not go up a cent anyway..



Well, thanks for the detailed post. I prefer that to being insulted without any regards to the points I make :lol:

Anyway, my first reaction was a bit over the top and indeed thinking about the arguments you put out has somewhat placated me.
But first, my reaction was not because I'm a 'rival fan' or 'bitter' or some such nonsense - I'm basically a Liverpool sympathizer as far as EPL goes, I knew long since about Keita's clause and also it was clear that he wanted to join you. So I thought it was incredibly stupid to pay so much more for something that will happen anyway.
I still actually feel that way, somewhat, though I realize there are arguments to justify this kind of deal.

Your argument that him signing officially will decrease, or nullify, the number of clubs approaching him in the meantime is a good one. However, it still smacks of a huge insecurity- you could just agree with the player about a next summer move and trust in this, it's strange that you pay a huge extra fee to Leipzig in order to get formal security about something that is actually between the player and your club.. do you understand what I mean? It's almost as if you're buying the player's will from a source that can't actually sell it. I mean, Leipzig will take the free millions gladly, of course :lol:

Then again, you're right both about the volatility of the football world, and possibly about the financial stuff not being that much of a difference- as I conceded earlier, maybe an increased demand for Keita from other big, or even bigger, clubs would drive up the signing bonus you'd have to pay (I suspect something like that happened with us and Lewandowski.. we had a 'gentleman's agreement' he would sign for us on a free, but Real tried to convince him to join them after all. He honoured his agreement to join us, but I'm fairly sure his agent made us pay for his 'loyalty' to match what Real would have offered)

The medical, yes granted, it's a formality, if you have decided to make the deal official. It still strikes me as absurd, probably because it sums up what I find absurd about the deal.
Apologies for that, meant no offence :wenger:

It is a huge insecurity imo because there are so much factors to be accounted for, just like it's a huge insecurity that Barca will come back with an offer for Coutinho next Summer - so much changes over the course of a season. Sure, he can fancy us now as we're basically the only big club vying for his signature but he might very well change his mind once Real or Bayern come calling at the end of this season, which was a very real possibility up until today. I understand what you mean though, and I concede that it looks weird if you look at it from that perspective.

Still, I couldn't care less about the extra money we paid for him now. I'm convinced he'll be sensational for us in the future and that in hindsight, it will have been well worth it. I'm definitely going to catch a lot more RBL games this season.
 

Bwuk

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Imagine he has another stellar season and midfielders of his quality go for €100m+ next transfer window while we've committed to paying €60m+ :p
Makes no difference. His release clause will still be the same price.
 

Litch

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wonder how much its cost them to trigger it early....? Also I wonder if we will see more of this type of signings as it feels different to the usual loaning him back to the selling club....
 

Rafateria

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Makes no difference. His release clause will still be the same price.
The release clause may stay the same but there are two alternative scenarios a) a team decides to pay much more than the clause .. if you are RBL which offer would you take ? b) the new suitors offer Keita a massive signing on fee. By getting this done now we've avoided those potential scenarios and although the extra we've committed to may or may not be as much as either of those scenarios (but could also conceivably save us substantially more) we can now plan for next season with a degree of certainty and avoid the issues we've seen this Summer. It may also act as an inducement both to potential other signings and to our current squad to see our investment and future plans.
 

PoTMS

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Gutted he's gone to them. He's good enough to start for most, if not all the big sides, in Europe. Only team I can think of that he wouldn't improve is Madrid.
 

Jarman

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Where is the white text? How can you possibly have so little understanding of a release clause Rafateria?
 

Zlatattack

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Great deal for Liverpool. They could do with him this season but it's still a great idea to get him for next.
 

zee.robs

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Makes no difference. His release clause will still be the same price.
For a buying club what counts is the costs incurred for the player over the length of his contract. Thus, it doesn't make much difference for the buying club whether they give money to the seling club or the player. Estimating his wages to 10m/y, Keita costs Pool 120m for a 5y contract. If Keita replicates his form from last season in the CL, Barca might think he is worth 200m. In this case, it woudnt mater anymore whether Keita fancied Pool this year.

Edit: Basically Pool took a bet of him being worth more then 70m next year
 

Cristiano Lell

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The release clause may stay the same but there are two alternative scenarios a) a team decides to pay much more than the clause .. if you are RBL which offer would you take ? b) the new suitors offer Keita a massive signing on fee. By getting this done now we've avoided those potential scenarios
Scenario a) is plain nonsense, of course, and scenario b) suggests that another club would offer Keita a signing bonus that is 15m € higher than the one Liverpool pay him..

15m € is a lot of money to throw out without necessity. As I said, this projects the opposite of confidence. Apparently your anticipation of other clubs becoming more interesting to Keita than yourself is 15 million € high.

I actually have another suspicion. That is, your club pays this money in order to placate the "spend some fecking money" section of your fanbase, and of the public, and to counteract the fan and media pressure that the failure to get Keita this summer (not for lack of trying) is bringing.
You're paying those 10++ million for a face-saving photo op.
 

Halftrack

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The release clause may stay the same but there are two alternative scenarios a) a team decides to pay much more than the clause .. if you are RBL which offer would you take ? b) the new suitors offer Keita a massive signing on fee. By getting this done now we've avoided those potential scenarios and although the extra we've committed to may or may not be as much as either of those scenarios (but could also conceivably save us substantially more) we can now plan for next season with a degree of certainty and avoid the issues we've seen this Summer. It may also act as an inducement both to potential other signings and to our current squad to see our investment and future plans.
Well, yes, they could theoretically choose to not accept an offer matching the release clause, but that relies on the player preferring the club that made the higher offer. If the player wants the club not willing to go above the release clause, they won't have much choice in the matter. Not honoring the release clause could cause players to think twice before joining you, more so if you're a club that most players see as a stepping stone rather than a final destination.

I think it's a good move by Liverpool. There are certain risks, certainly, but RBL was never going to sell him this window, and with this they've ensured that they won't have to risk competing against more attractive clubs for his signature next summer.
 

Rob

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Scenario a) is plain nonsense, of course, and scenario b) suggests that another club would offer Keita a signing bonus that is 15m € higher than the one Liverpool pay him..

15m € is a lot of money to throw out without necessity. As I said, this projects the opposite of confidence. Apparently your anticipation of other clubs becoming more interesting to Keita than yourself is 15 million € high.

I actually have another suspicion. That is, your club pays this money in order to placate the "spend some fecking money" section of your fanbase, and of the public, and to counteract the fan and media pressure that the failure to get Keita this summer (not for lack of trying) is bringing.
You're paying those 10++ million for a face-saving photo op.
I disagree. I think we're spending that extra money because we really want him and expect a bigger club than ours to snatch him up next summer if we don't do it now.
 

RedRover

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I disagree. I think we're spending that extra money because we really want him and expect a bigger club than ours to snatch him up next summer if we don't do it now.
This is obviously the case. If he has a clause in his contract then that's the fee but evidently a big season might see a the biggest sides come calling and if PSG, Real or Barca come sniffing that's probably that.

Potentially good business from Liverpool if he's the real deal, even at a premium. The way transfer fees are going ig could be very shrewd.
 

Sarni

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Good decision by them to book him for next year. With the way transfers have gone for the last two months, if he had a good season in CL with Leipzig they'd have zero chance of getting him in a year as PSG, Barca and a few others would come knocking. £10m extra is not much.
 

giorno

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'Pool/Klopp really like him, and they were afraid of potential rivals next summer. That's all it is.

Still makes very little sense considering they still need help for this season...
 

izec

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Key signing for them, similar to Chelsea buying Kante and us buying Pogba.

People say as long as they dont inprove their weaknesses, think Keita solves the midfield issue. Van Dijk solves the CB issue. Klopp is doing some good business, he is absolutely worth it, just like Mane quickly settled and impressed, he will be one of the best midfielders in the PL soon.
 

ti vu

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It's always next year with that lot.
:lol:

What's stupid about it? They've secured Keita for next summer and like I said Liverpool will probably have had their lawyers set up clauses for incidents like a major injury.
I doubt Leipzig didn't consult their lawyers to arrange this deal with clauses to cover their asses. I guess the up front premium is non-refundable, just as release clause is non renegotiable in case that major injury does indeed occur. So if that were the case, L'pool is in dangerous situation. They may pull out not paying the release clause but they lose that money for nothing.
 
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Tarrou

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Has anyone ever done a deal like this before? Sign them a year in advance I mean.
 

TheReligion

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Good player but not worth 70m.

Prices are absurd right now. So glad United got Pogba when they did. Absolute snip!
 

BobbyManc

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The release clause may stay the same but there are two alternative scenarios a) a team decides to pay much more than the clause .. if you are RBL which offer would you take ?
Leipzig have no say in the matter. If the release clause is triggered then it is the player's decision. Liverpool have paid more now because they fear bigger clubs moving for him next summer, it's as simple as that.
 

nyanza

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The release clause may stay the same but there are two alternative scenarios a) a team decides to pay much more than the clause .. if you are RBL which offer would you take ?
Both... because that's the point of the release clause, you know?
 

JustFootballFan

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There is also a chance RBL will sell him during the winter break for an additional €10-15M. They have more time to sign their own Keita replacement and re-evaluate their seasonal goals during the winter break.
 

Sad Chris

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Yup, they have apparently signed him. But it's not official because of that photo. That particular photo is 100% fake. Premier League doesn't use fecking Verdana as their typeface for letters and digits on jerseys. And to top it off… that kerning… lol. :lol: It didn't even take me one second to notice.

What is Verdana, some may ask? Well it's the very same typeface that's displaying the text you're reading right now, unless you have some custom typeface installation for your whole system/device. And yes, I like typography. :)



Yup.

They've just changed the skin tone of Salah and replaced his head with Keita's. Everything about the photos are the same apart from that and what I just mentioned above.





Also serves as a great reminder that not all blue ticked Twitter accounts check their sources…
Basically the logo positioning behind his ears give it all away.
 

Dorian Gray

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Are Liverpool fecking stupid? What is the deal with them?

Keita has a 54m € clause next summer, which obviously they are free to trigger then, if the player wants to join them, but they pay another 15m-20m extra only so they can ANNOUNCE him already? What is this?
All that money just to present the fans with a picture? Or are they afraid he's going to change his mind during the year?

Are they the worst transfer negotiators in the business?
Or you can think of it like this -
We had a 66m pounds bid rejected earlier this window. Now RBL has accepted a 55m bid (48m release clause + 7m premiums) for the next year. Essentially they have foregone 11m to make sure Keita plays for one more year with them. Kind of like them paying 11m loan fee for a year.

It makes sense for them as he was almost certainly gone next year. This way they get 7m extra. It makes sense for us as multiple top clubs would have been in the running next season and I don't think we would have been able to match the wages offered. And even though Naby is interested today, one year is a long time for a mind change. This way we avoid the year long speculation and approaches from other clubs. Less headache for RBL, peace of mind for Liverpool and zero distraction for the player.

I get it that we are paying 7m extra. But imagine we left it to next year and were forced to match wages offered by other clubs, the extra wages over 5 years would financially justify the 7m spend I think.

PS I have taken the figures from the below tweet. Apologies if they are incorrect.
aveh Solhekol‏Verified account @SkyKaveh
Great business by Liverpool to get Keita for £55m in today's market (£48m release clause + £7m premium). Had £66m bid turned down last month
 
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AgentP

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This is brilliant business by Liverpool. The player is super talented and I don't see his levels dropping either. He is no flash in the pan. Bar injuries, nothing else can go wrong with this one. Liverpool wouldn't have been able to compete with the other clubs next season and the player's head could have been easily turned.
 

rampo

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This is brilliant business by Liverpool. The player is super talented and I don't see his levels dropping either. He is no flash in the pan. Bar injuries, nothing else can go wrong with this one. Liverpool wouldn't have been able to compete with the other clubs next season and the player's head could have been easily turned.
I agree, he will one of the top midfielders for next 5-6 years barring injuries. Really hate when Liverpool recruit the right players