Liverpool are to step up their pursuit of £70m rated midfielder

Liverpool have stepped up their pursuit of £70m rated Naby Keita.

According to The Times, Jürgen Klopp is keen to bring the highly rated 22-year-old to Liverpool and is willing to break their recently set club transfer record. Keita currently plays for Red Bull Leipzig in Bundesliga and impressed during his debut season with the side, so much so that Jürgen Klopp is desperate to bring him to the club. Leipzig, who finished second in Germany last season, have put a hefty £70m price tag on the Guinean midfielder and Liverpool knows that anything lower will be rebuffed. According to the newspaper, the club will offer close to that fee which will be inclusive of add-ons but knows that next year they could secure the player for £48m. The midfielder has a release clause where he can leave for that figure but it does not kick in until 2018. It has been a busy summer so far for Liverpool after Mohamed Salah joined from Roma for £36.9m which eclipsed the previous club transfer record of £35m for Andy Carrol back in 2011.