RB Leipzig’s sporting director, Ralf Rangnick, has criticised Naby Keïta’s entourage and claimed the midfielder has had his head turned by “a whole village in Guinea”.
Keïta has been the subject of two failed bids from Liverpool, with the latest – a £66m offer that would have shattered their transfer record – rejected last week. Jürgen Klopp has made the 22-year-old his priority in midfield this summer, with Keïta understood to have informed Leipzig he is keen to move to Anfield.
However, despite reports in Germany that last season’s Bundesliga runners-up were searching for replacements, Rangnick insisted that neither Keïta nor the attacking midfielder Emil Forsberg would be leaving the club.
“There should be someone who points them into the right direction,” he said at a coaching convention in Bochum on Wednesday. “The boys themselves are not the problem here. It is their surroundings. A whole village in Guinea or somebody from their entourage tells the players why they must do something right away. I can’t blame the players.
“I expect them to play for us next season. Both are extraordinary players who make the difference for our team.”
Guardian sport has contacted Keïta’s agents for comment. They are understood to have held talks with Leipzig on Wednesday having met Klopp this week during Liverpool’s pre-season tour to Hong Kong.
