Liverpool are increasingly pessimistic about their chances of signing RB Leipzig midfielder Naby Keita this summer and are ready to shelve their interest until next year.

After seeing successive bids rejected for the 22-year-old Guinea international, Liverpool do not intend to increase their last offer of £66 million.

Instead – unless there is major u-turn from the Bundesliga side and willingness to re-open negotiations – Liverpool will return in 12 months time by which time Keita’s exit clause of £48 million will change the landscape.

Leipzig have never shifted position since Liverpool made their official moves for the player, with respective bids of £57 million and £66 million. Jurgen Klopp would have broken a club transfer record by £30 million had the last offer been accepted, but the rebuttal of such a staggering sum underlined the Germans were not bluffing with the public statements insisting there would be no sale.