Plenty of Liverpool fans remained hopeful of seeing Naby Keita move to Anfield in January.
Having triggered Keita's £48 million release clause in August, the Reds agreed a deal to allow the Guinean midfielder to remain in the Bundesliga for another season before joining up with the Reds on 1 July 2018.
But supporters kept their fingers firmly crossed over the possibility of seeing that move brought forward by six months so that he would be able to bolster the side's midfield in the second half of the Premier League season.
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Well, we've got bad news for those optimistic supporters because, apparently, there is no chance of the 22-year-old leaving his current side early.
"Even if we should not reach the knockout stages of Champions League, it would make no sense to allow Naby to join Liverpool earlier," Leipzig sporting director Ralf Rangnick told Leipziger Volkszeitung.
"We want to qualify for Europe again and we need Naby for that."
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Keita has experienced a tumultuous start to the current Bundesliga season. While he's left Liverpool supporters salivating with
the odd thunderbolt, he's also been
sent off on multiple occasions and was involved in a
preseason training ground bust-up with teammate Diego Demme.
That's not to mention the
trouble he's found himself in with German prosecutors after allegedly submitting forged identification in order to receive an EU driving licence.
