Ralf Rangnick was once very close to cashing in on Naby Keita while the midfielder was at RB Salzburg before keeping him within the Red Bull set-up.
Keita's form has been somewhat up and down since he decided to make the switch to Liverpool, but while he was at RB Salzburg the Guinea international had managed to catch the eye of plenty of potential suitors. One club interested was French giants Paris Saint-Germain and Keita could have been on the move were it not for Rangnick's intervention.
The 27-year-old is in the midst of one of his better runs of form since arriving at Anfield and is gearing up to take on United in a contest that could see Liverpool go top of the Premier League with just six games left to play afterwards.
If the Reds are to prevail, Keita will have to topple his former Leipzig manager as Rangnick looks to keep United's faint hopes of Champions League qualification alive with a shock win at Anfield. The pair struck up quite the bond while both were in Germany.
Rangnick explained as much as he discussed Keita during his pre-match media duties before the trip to the red half of Merseyside on Tuesday evening. The midfielder has been on United's manager's radar since his RB Salzburg days, back when Rangnick was director of both Salzburg and Leipzig.
"Yeah, I think it was for him difficult because I've known him from the very first day when we signed him from a third division team in France for Salzburg," Rangnick told Sky Sports. "After two years, he had a big offer from PSG, but we convinced him to stay within our family and move to Leipzig. Then he had an amazing two years there and Liverpool came with that offer."
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The United boss went on to admit he feels Keita may have struggled to adapt to Klopp's footballing philosophy in the early stages of his Liverpool career after joining for £48million in 2018.
"And he's the kind of player who needs not only the attention of the manager, but everything has to be in the best possible way. And I think for him, it was difficult to get used to that new style of football, to the level of expectation.
"But as you said, my feeling is that this season he has been coming close to his very best. He's getting more game time, more regularly playing also from the beginning, and he can still be an amazing player. At No 8, he's one of the best we ever had."
