Liverpool new boy Naby Keita has revealed he was further convinced to join the Reds by a former team-mate of his.

The Guinea midfielder finally completed his move to Liverpool this week, a year after the Reds made an initial agreement with RB Leipzig.

He joins for a fee of £53m from the Bundesliga side and will take the No.8 shirt last worn by Steven Gerrard.

However, the 23-year-old has revealed that new team-mate Sadio Mane was one of the many reasons he decided to swap Germany for England.

The duo played with one another in Austria for RB Salzburg and became good friends, and also share the same agent, Bjorn Bezemer, who negotiated Mane’s £30m switch from Southampton to Liverpool in 2016.

Asked about his decision to join Liverpool, Keita revealed he asked for advice from Mane before deciding to make the move.

“I chose Liverpool because it is a team I watched often and I also spoke a lot about it with Sadio,” he said.

“He told me a lot about the team and the club. Sadio is like family to me. We were friends at Salzburg and he was like a brother to me.

“After training we used to go home together. He was my best friend there.

“I’m looking forward to being his team-mate again.

“I also spoke with the coach, who told me about the project for the team and that motivated me to be here.”