Though the stance within Liverpool is that Naby Keita is happy and will not leave before the end of the transfer window, another Bundesliga club is now interested.
The summer transfer window closes at 11pm on September 1, and there are still a number of Liverpool players who could be on the move.
A decision will be made on the futures of Nat Phillips and Sepp van den Berg, with much depending on the fitness of more senior centre-backs, while a host of youngsters could head out on loan.
Most intriguing, though, is the situation surrounding Keita, who, according to reports in Germany, is “unhappy” with his game time and considering an exit.
The Guinean has under a year left on his contract, and if Liverpool are to recoup any of the £52.75 million they paid to sign him from RB Leipzig in 2018, they would need to sell either this summer or in January.
But word from within the club is that Keita is not for sale and talks will continue over an extended deal, with Jurgen Klopp insistent he has not heard of any discontent from his No. 8.
Leipzig have already been credited with an interest in re-signing Keita, however, and now the Mirror‘s David Maddock has named Dortmund among his suitors.
That obviously presents the enticing prospect of a player-plus-cash deal with Dortmund for long-time Liverpool target Jude Bellingham.
It is highly unlikely – near impossible – that Dortmund will allow Bellingham to leave this summer, with a transfer instead expected in 2023, but perhaps a similar, delayed deal to that which brought Keita to Anfield could be struck.
However, that would still leave Klopp short a midfielder for now if Keita were sold before the deadline, with the manager himself stating that in the unlikely event the 27-year-old were to go, “there must be a replacement.”
“Selling Naby now? And not replacing him? No, that’s not possible. Of course not. But it’s not the plan,” he told reporters last week.
“We are not dumb, so that we think a player can go and we don’t replace him. No, that’s not true.
“Naby will not go, but if he would – which he will not do – there must be a replacement. Of course, that’s clear.”
