Naby Keïta has left Liverpool without ever really getting going, but Jürgen Klopp is now able to call upon the same traits he sought in the transfer market in 2017.
Liverpool was all over Naby Keïta back in 2017. So much so, in fact, that Jürgen Klopp sanctioned a year-long wait before getting his man, beating off transfer market competition from the likes of Barcelona in the process.
In hindsight, that obviously appears very strange indeed. Even over the course of that ‘bonus’ season in Leipzig, there might have been one or two jitters in Liverpool, as Keïta struggled to replicate quite the same level of dominance he had previously showcased. One or two injuries started to creep in as well, with 71 days missed (Transfermarkt).
Still, Klopp undoubtedly remained highly excited to finally complete the transfer. Speaking after Keïta’s debut, a 7-0 win over Chester, he spoke in very positive terms (Independent):
“Quality. It’s all good. You saw Naby comes from Leipzig and knows the football philosophy as it’s a similar one. He’s very sharp in the challenges, very quick in mind in these situations of counter-pressing, his impulses look kind of natural, which is good.”
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It’s no mystery why Liverpool and Klopp were so keen on Keïta. A reliance on data had just got the club back into the Champions League when the transfer was sanctioned, and would take them to the final before the deal was completed. The Guinean lit up almost every midfield metric.
His monstrous pressing no doubt caught the eye of Klopp, but that was really just the tip of the iceberg. Able to progress the play through passes and particularly carries, he also offered a major goal and assist threat, promising a new component for the Liverpool midfield.
Intriguingly, his numbers have continued to broadly hold up at Liverpool, at least on a per-90 basis. Everyone knows by now that the real killer has been availability, with the 28-year-old dogged by fitness and injury woes.
Even all these years later, Klopp’s dream midfielder remains essentially an injury-free version of Keïta. Such a player would be perfect for most managers, given how Werder Bremen’s newest signing effectively does it all. And it seems Liverpool might have got exactly that.
It speaks volumes that FBRef does not have a 2022/23 scouting report available for Keïta, with his 293 Premier League minutes not enough to draw any meaningful conclusions. But there is a report on his previous campaign — where, sure enough, the numbers once again paint the picture of an elite midfielder.
Where it gets really interesting is the player comparison tool. Most similar to Keïta in that campaign was Bruno Guimarães, who joined Newcastle in the January transfer window. Liverpool is a known admirer (via the ECHO), but a move would now be all but impossible. Second on the list? A certain Alexis Mac Allister.
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