It is not even six years since Naby Keita became Liverpool’s £52.75million ($66m) club-record signing and was lauded as one of the rising stars of European football.
He was supposed to be the centrepiece of a new-look Anfield midfield. Today, the Guinea international is no longer a Liverpool player. His move did not work out as planned.
And by the end of the summer, he might not be a Werder Bremen player either. Bremen brought Keita into the club as a free agent last summer after leaving Liverpool. But his return to the Bundesliga, where Keita made his name as an exciting midfield talent, has fallen flat too.
Too many injuries, too few games and now controversy, disputed accusations of selfishness and jeopardising the spirit of the dressing room punished by banishment from the first team.
The 29-year-old has been accused of refusing to travel with Bremen for their game against Bayer Leverkusen at the weekend after finding out he was not in the starting line-up.
On Tuesday night, the story took a grim twist when, hours after announcing his suspension, Bremen came out to condemn racist abuse directed towards him on social media.
We strongly condemn racist comments on social media made towards Naby Keïta. Such inhuman language goes against the values of SV #Werder Bremen, and anyone using it can not be considered a fan of our club. We take a clear stance against racism! pic.twitter.com/EP7c6yGk4J
— SV Werder Bremen EN (@werderbremen_en) April 16, 2024
That support was unwavering but, in broader terms, Keita’s future at the club seems far from certain less than a year after he joined.
“As a club, we won’t tolerate Naby’s behaviour,” said Clemens Fritz, Bremen’s head of professional football, in the statement announcing the midfielder had been suspended from the first team for the remainder of the season.
“He let his team down in a time of difficulty surrounding our recent run of form and squad availability and put his own interests above those of the team. We can’t allow that. At this stage of the season, we need full focus on the remaining games and a team who stick together. That’s why we’ve been left with no alternative.”
Keita playing on March 30 against Wolfsburg, his most recent appearance for Bremen (Cathrin Mueller/Getty Images)
They were serious accusations from a man who had brought the situation into the public gaze a couple of days earlier when he accused Keita of refusing to travel. Bremen lost that match to Leverkusen 5-0, a result which saw the latter win the Bundesliga title.
“After finding out yesterday that he wasn’t in the starting XI, Naby decided not to come with us to the ground, but instead chose to travel home,” alleged Fritz.
The claim brought an angry response from Keita, but one that failed to address the specific allegation that he had abandoned the team when he discovered he would be on the bench. Keita’s representatives declined a request from The Athletic to elaborate on his statement and spell out his version of the incident that led to his suspension.
“Since the first day I signed for this magnificent club, I have always demonstrated self-sacrifice and professionalism,” Keita wrote on his Instagram story.
“The only desire that has always driven me has been to help the club and bring happiness to the many supporters, especially at this time when the results are not what we want.
“Since the start of my career, wherever I have been, I have never had a disciplinary problem and I have always tried to be exemplary. I will therefore not accept that anyone tarnishes this image.”
While Keita’s image as a professional might not have been called into question previously, his standing as a player has nosedived since he was the most sought-after midfielder on the continent in 2017. That followed his stellar breakthrough season in the Bundesliga with RB Leipzig.
Bayern Munich and Barcelona showed an interest but Liverpool won the race for his signature. As part of the deal, he spent one more season in Germany before joining Jurgen Klopp’s side in summer 2018. Even now, Keita remains the fifth-most expensive signing in Liverpool’s history.
Across five seasons, Keita only made 84 league appearances for Liverpool (Eric Alonso/Getty Images)
Described by Klopp as the “complete midfielder” and handed the No 8 shirt, which had been vacant since the departure of Steven Gerrard in 2015, Keita arrived with big expectations. But he made just 49 Premier League starts across five seasons at Anfield.
His spell on Merseyside was a decorated one: a Champions League, a Premier League, an FA Cup, a Carabao Cup, a UEFA Super Cup and a Club World Cup. But he did not play his intended part. A succession of injuries and setbacks were a problem, as were his struggles to handle the increased intensity of English football.
Yoga and changes to his training programme and diet did not make a significant difference to his fitness prospects. The language barrier made adapting to his new surroundings tougher, both socially and tactically.
And by the time he left Anfield last summer, he had made just three league starts in his final campaign. There was no concerted effort to keep him, so the former record signing left as a free transfer.
Bremen was supposed to be a fresh start for Keita, but the injuries that dogged his Liverpool career have become worse since his return to Germany. There was an adductor injury ruling him out for five games, and another muscle injury for four, while he missed a game apiece due to a stomach bug and another illness.
Keita has played just 109 Bundesliga minutes across one start and four substitute appearances. Now made unavailable for selection and removed from the first-team group, he will not be adding to them this season.
Bremen declined to elaborate to The Athletic on what might happen in the summer, insisting the club’s focus was entirely on the final five games of a season that has led them to 12th in the table but still theoretically at risk of facing a relegation play-off.
Yet with Keita less than a year into the three-year contract he signed last summer, the club appear limited to three options: sell him in the summer, loan him out or attempt to integrate him back into the first team.
After the decline that has led to Keita’s lowest moment yet, none of those paths will be easy to walk. It was not supposed to be like this.
(Top photo: David Hecker/Getty Images)
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