Liverpool target £135m move for Thomas Lemar and Virgil Van Dijk after Naby Keita agrees move

Jurgen Klopp has stepped up Liverpool's transfer activity as deadline day (31 August) looms and is said to be planning a £135m ($174.7m) spree in addition to the £48m ($62m) they spent on Monday to make Naby Keita the club-record signing.

Keita will join the Reds next season after the Premier League club triggered his release clause that will become active next summer and paid a premium above the cost to complete the deal a year in advance. The Red Bull Leipzig midfielder underwent a medical on Monday (28 August) and will officially join the club on 1 July 2018.

Keita becomes Klopp's fourth summer signing following the arrivals of Mohamed Salah, Dominic Solanke and Andrew Robertson. The German manager, however, is not ready to stop and according to the Sun, they are ready to spend a further combined £135m to land Virgil van Dijk and Thomas Lemar from Southampton and AS Monaco respectively.

The Merseyside club are said to be willing to smash their club-record yet again and make a last ditch £75m offer for Van Dijk, who has been on Klopp's wish list since the start of the summer. The Saints are not ready to sell, but a big money offer could tempt them to cash in rather than hold on to an unhappy player.

Lemar, on the other hand, has only recently come on Liverpool's radar, and despite the Ligue 1 outfit's reluctance to sell, the Anfield club have already begun their assault by submitting two bids for the winger, the first around £55m and the second worth £64.8m.

According to Sky Sports, both of Liverpool's bids have been rejected by the Principality club as they are not interested in parting with one more of their key players. The Sun, however, claims that the Reds will persist in the hope of convincing Monaco to sell before Thursday's deadline. Arsenal were also linked with a move for Lemar, but Arsene Wenger recently revealed that a move for the France international was dead at the moment.

The arrival of Lemar and Van Dijk and the addition of Keita could pave the way for Philippe Coutinho to leave the club with Barcelona keen to take the midfielder to Camp Nou this summer. The player has handed in a transfer request, but Liverpool have thus far rebuffed all advances from the Catalan club including their latest offer of around £136m.