Liverpool test RB Leipzig resolve with new £74m offer for Naby Keita

Liverpool have made a third offer of €83m (£74m, $97m) for Naby Keita as they continue to step up their pursuit of the RB Leipzig midfielder.

Jurgen Klopp is desperate to add the 22-year-old midfielder to his squad but ahead of their maiden campaign in the Champions League, Leipzig are adamant they will not cash in any of the star players that helped him secure the runners-up spot in Germany last season.

According to club owner Dietrich Mateschitz, Liverpool have already seen a club-record offer worth £66m ($86m) dismissed by the Bundesliga side after initially failing with a £57m bid earlier this summer.

Bild now report a new offer from Merseyside, although the club's sporting director Ralf Rangnick insisting earlier this summer that not even a "three-figure transfer fee" could tempt them into doing business.

Keita was involved in a training ground incident on Monday where he committed a "knee high" challenge on teammate Diego Demme. The two had previously clashed earlier in the session with teammates forced to intervene and separate the pair before the challenge that left Demme needing treatment. Sections of the German press have put Keita's challenge down to frustration, stemming from of RB Leipzig's refusal to sell him to Liverpool.

The club have played down the incident however, posting a video of Demme promising to "be back on the pitch in a few days" with Keita sat alongside him in the treatment room with the two showing there were no hard feelings between them.

Liverpool have already broken their transfer record once so far this summer in bringing former Chelsea winger Mohamed Salah in from Roma with former Blues youngster Dominic Solanke also arriving on Merseyside. Last week, the club completed the signing of Andy Robertson from Hull City.

The club remain in the market for a centre-half and a central midfielder with Klopp prepared to be patient, with over a month left before the transfer window closes.

"Yes, it will be a difficult one, maybe it is getting more and more difficult, especially in England but we have made a lot of good things so far," Klopp said earlier this summer. "If you cannot see it so far, you can imagine we have done a lot of things behind the scenes.

"Sometimes you need to be patient and that is what we are at the moment – to wait for the right moment and then we will see what happens."