‘We don’t assume’: CEO convinced £14m reported Liverpool target won’t leave

Follow us on Google Discover

Liverpool have been linked with Nordi Mukiele, but RB Leipzig’s CEO Oliver Mintzlaff is convinced that the French defender will stay put, while speaking to Sportbuzzer.

The 22-year-old might have been overshadowed by the two over Frenchman at the heart of Julian Nagelsmann’s backline, Dayot Upamecano and the underrated Moussa Konate, but he too has plenty of admirers from outside of Germany.

Mukiele’s athleticism and adaptability have certainly helped boost his reputation, with the former Montpellier starlet impressing regardless of whether he is playing at centre-half or in a rampaging right-back role.

Le10 Sport claimed in July that Liverpool were interested ahead of a potential transfer tussle with Champions League runners-up Paris Saint-Germain.

But, despite selling star striker Timo Werner to Chelsea, Mintzlaff is confident that an ongoing financial crisis means Leipzig will succeed in keeping the rest of a talented squad of players together this summer at least.

“There is always a pain threshold. Now if a completely immoral offer comes, we have to think (about selling Mukiele). But we don’t assume that this will come in this time of crisis,” the CEO says of a man who cost Leipzig £14 million two years ago.

Mukiele’s transfer value has risen considerably since he arrived in the summer of 2018 of course.

And, as Jurgen Klopp has made clear on a number of occasions recently, Liverpool are not in the market for bank-breaking signings as long as budgets are being slashed across the board (Sky).

In a years’ time, assuming the market will be back to something approaching normality by then, expect the interest in Mukiele, Upamecano, Marcel Sabitzer and co to rise considerably.