Red Bull Leipzig are adamant that they will not sell Naby Keita to Liverpool, even for a fee of €100million (£87.8million).
Keita is understood to be keen on a switch to the Reds, after manager Jurgen Klopp made the midfielder his No 1 transfer target.
But Leipzig, who have qualified directly for the Champions League, say they are not interested in doing business for the player.
The club’s sporting director, Ralf Rangnick, was quoted as saying that none of the Bundesliga outfit’s team members, “We are not selling anyone, even if we are talking about a three-figure transfer fee and the players know that,”
“I have already said that before and nothing has changed in that aspect.
“It is only normal that there is interest in our players after a season like this, also because of what guys like Keita and [Emil] Forsberg have done for their national teams. That does not change our stance.
“There is no reason for the players to leave. We have directly qualified for the Champions League.”
Rangnick also denied claims, that Keita has an escape clause worth £48million from next summer.
“There are no players in our squad who have an exit clause,” he said.
“I will repeat it one more time, we will not sell any of our key players.
“There are a lot of reports about there being a certain figure where we could be open to a sale, but they are all false.”