Ex-Liverpool ace once signed for club-record fee is rediscovering form under ex-Tottenham and Leeds hero
A Liverpool star who left in 2023 and is currently being managed by former Anfield forward Robbie Keane
Naby Keita says he’s beginning to enjoy his football once again after leaving Liverpool two years ago.
Former RB Leipzig wonderkid Keita left Liverpool in 2023 after an injury-hit five-year stint with the club. He was limited to just eight first team appearances during his final term with the Reds before departing on a free transfer to Werder Bremen.
However, his return to German football didn’t go to plan in the 2023/24 season as he started just one match and was limited to five appearances. Reports at the time claim in April 2024, he refused to board the team bus to the stadium and headed home, after being told he would not be part of the starting line-up for a match against Bayer Leverkusen.
He was fined a significant amount at the time and spent the next six months being frozen out before completing a loan transfer to an unlikely destination in Ferencvárosi TC in Hungary.
What went wrong for Naby Keita at Liverpool?
Naby Keita agreed to move to Anfield eight years ago in the summer of 2017 for a then club-record figure of £48m, surpassing the £39.5m the Reds paid for Mohamed Salah during that same summer along with the £35m the club splashed out on Newcastle United’s Andy Carroll in 2010.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp had to wait a full year to introduce Keita into his squad due to a clause in the agreement but expressed real excitement about the deal at the time, which eventually rose to around £57.5m due to RB Leipzig’s performance in the league that season. “I have contact with a lot of people in the Bundesliga, how you can imagine, and I have never got so many ‘Congratulations’ messages like after we said in public that we signed Naby,” said Klopp.
“He is the player of the league. Last year, together with Thiago Alcantara (another future Liverpool signing), who played an outstanding season for Bayern, he was the flier. Okay, we have to wait but sometimes you have to wait for a really good thing. I have no problem with this; how you can imagine, I would have preferred another situation but that’s not a problem. It’s cool.”
Keita played 33 times for Liverpool in his debut season, helping the team to second place and Champions League glory, although he only started one match while playing on the continent for the Reds. He struggled with numerous muscle injuries throughout his time on the Kop and struggled when fit and available to break up the established trio of Jordan Henderson, Fabinho and Gini Wijnaldum at the time.
Keita played 129 times for Liverpool, but made less than 50 Premier League starts, with the majority of his appearances coming as a substitute for the early rounds of the cup. Klopp told the club's website when he left: "Naby is an exceptional footballer, what a player he is. Maybe one or two injuries too many just hindered him from getting really through.”
Naby Keita happy to be enjoying his football again
Keita has spent the last 18 months of his career out on loan in Hungary with 36-time champions Ferencvárosi, who are based in Budapest.
He made 11 appearances towards the end of last season to get up to speed and helped the team to the league title, and has played 10 matches across all competitions this year for Keane’s side. He also has matches against the likes of Fenerbahce, Rangers and Nottingham Forest to look forward to in the Europa League this year.
Speaking to Telecomasia he said: “I had a lot of injuries in the last year and couldn’t give a lot to Bremen last season. But I’m happy I’m getting games here in Hungary and beginning to enjoy it all again.”
Keita went on to praise the impact of Arne Slot and also told reporters that he remains a Liverpool fan after his time with the club. He added: “The new manager has come in and instantly been able to get the best out of the team - he’s been able to get his ideas across easily and early, which is a really good thing.I still speak to a lot of my teammates and they say that the new manager is very good, which is easy to believe given how they’re performing.”