Liverpool to push for Naby Keita arrival in January to ease loss of Philippe Coutinho

Liverpool will explore the possibility of bringing Naby Keita to the club during the January transfer window – six months ahead of schedule.

The Merseyside club struck a deal with RB Leipzig to sign the highly-regarded Keita during last summer's transfer window for a reported fee of £57m, with the midfielder remaining at the German club for the duration of the 2017-18 season.

The Guinea international is set to complete his move to Anfield on 1 July but the Daily Telegraph now reports Liverpool are now willing to use some of the money collected from Philippe Coutinho's move to Barcelona to bring the deal forward and sign the player this month.

After rejecting three bids during the summer transfer window and a transfer request from the player himself, Liverpool finally agreed a deal worth £142m with Barcelona on Saturday [6 January] with Coutinho set to sign a five-and-a-half year deal at the Nou Camp.

While the club have been linked with moves for Leicester City's Riyad Mahrez and Monaco star Thomas Lemar to help fill the void left by the Brazil international, the report claims Liverpool's first objective is to sound out the possibility of adding Keita to their squad in the coming weeks.

Convincing Leipzig to agree to those terms could prove difficult however. The club's hierarchy has insisted throughout the 2017-18 campaign Keita will remain their player for the remainder of the season with Liverpool wary of upsetting the club after such smooth negotiations last summer.

But with the Premier League side now in very strong financial position after cashing in on Coutinho, they hope to tempt them into renegotiating the terms of the deal.

If they cannot bring in Keita, the Telegraph add Liverpool may wait until the summer before spending their considerable fortune, aware valuations of their transfer targets will now soar with rivals well aware of how much they have recently banked through Coutinho's sale.