Naby Keita (Liverpool -> SV Werder Bremen)

4:47 is my fave where he takes the piss into Zieliński

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJz5CxEfHgE

The hype is f**king real, isn't it? I reckon we should all put £10-20 on him winning YPOY next season with him reaching double figures in assists and goals. I wonder what the odds are? Free money that will help go towards the 18/19 CL final where we play Barca and batter them good and proper!

4:47 is my fave where he takes the piss into Zieliński

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJz5CxEfHgE

The hype is f**king real, isn't it? I reckon we should all put £10-20 on him winning YPOY next season with him reaching double figures in assists and goals. I wonder what the odds are? Free money that will help go towards the 18/19 CL final where we play Barca and batter them good and proper!

He looks the absolute business

Found these facts about Naby Keita: https://bulinews.com/news/69/10-facts-you-may-not-know-about-naby-keita

Pretty informative. However, under fact 9, he is quoted for saying: "I wish for good health, that I am the best African footballer in the world and that I play one day for Barcelona." - well, great then... 

Found these facts about Naby Keita: https://bulinews.com/news/69/10-facts-you-may-not-know-about-naby-keita

Pretty informative. However, under fact 9, he is quoted for saying: "I wish for good health, that I am the best African footballer in the world and that I play one day for Barcelona." - well, great then... 

He's overshot that goal and landed a place at Liverpool, lucky lad.

We cant expect any player these days to show any loyalty as long as they get paid well and win things there happy if not the seem to be able to manufacture moves.
I don't expect Salah to be here for until he retires its just the way football has developed.

Sorry I haven’t any links, and I do know the rules, but came in here to see if there was any information on a injury, supposedly happened to Kieta whilst training with his national squad!
Any one got any info on that ?

Sorry I haven’t any links, and I do know the rules, but came in here to see if there was any information on a injury, supposedly happened to Kieta whilst training with his national squad!
Any one got any info on that ?

The 23-year-old picked up a calf strain during a training session with the Guinea national team, and sportbuzzer.de report that he personally contacted RB Leipzig physio Alexander Sekora for treatment.

Keïta is under contract with RB Leipzig until 30 June, so is still able to rely on the physio - as well as club doctor Frank Striegle - for treatment.

The medical staff arranged a scan, which helped them to diagnose an injury, and Keïta is now set to undergo treatment in Germany ahead of his switch to Liverpool on 1 July.

Sportbuzzer report that Liverpool have been made aware of the Guinean's injury and had no objection to their player receiving treatment from the Leipzig staff.

The injury could lead to Keïta joining up with the Liverpool squad later than expected, as the injury has meant that he has had to postpone a holiday to New York - for which he was scheduled to depart tomorrow.

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:zINDHcOaghcJ:https://www.si.com/soccer/2018/06/03/incoming-liverpool-midfielder-naby-keita-suffers-injury-setback-international-duty+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&client=firefox-b

http://www.sportbuzzer.de/artikel/rb-leipzigs-naby-keita-erleidet-wadenverletzung/

The 23-year-old picked up a calf strain during a training session with the Guinea national team, and sportbuzzer.de report that he personally contacted RB Leipzig physio Alexander Sekora for treatment.

Keïta is under contract with RB Leipzig until 30 June, so is still able to rely on the physio - as well as club doctor Frank Striegle - for treatment.

The medical staff arranged a scan, which helped them to diagnose an injury, and Keïta is now set to undergo treatment in Germany ahead of his switch to Liverpool on 1 July.

Sportbuzzer report that Liverpool have been made aware of the Guinean's injury and had no objection to their player receiving treatment from the Leipzig staff.

The injury could lead to Keïta joining up with the Liverpool squad later than expected, as the injury has meant that he has had to postpone a holiday to New York - for which he was scheduled to depart tomorrow.

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:zINDHcOaghcJ:https://www.si.com/soccer/2018/06/03/incoming-liverpool-midfielder-naby-keita-suffers-injury-setback-international-duty+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&client=firefox-b

http://www.sportbuzzer.de/artikel/rb-leipzigs-naby-keita-erleidet-wadenverletzung/

😃

Why would his holiday mean he comes back late?
Sorry lad, you report on June 20
But my holiday started late
Sound... see you June 20

The 23-year-old picked up a calf strain during a training session with the Guinea national team, and sportbuzzer.de report that he personally contacted RB Leipzig physio Alexander Sekora for treatment.

Keïta is under contract with RB Leipzig until 30 June, so is still able to rely on the physio - as well as club doctor Frank Striegle - for treatment.

The medical staff arranged a scan, which helped them to diagnose an injury, and Keïta is now set to undergo treatment in Germany ahead of his switch to Liverpool on 1 July.

Sportbuzzer report that Liverpool have been made aware of the Guinean's injury and had no objection to their player receiving treatment from the Leipzig staff.

The injury could lead to Keïta joining up with the Liverpool squad later than expected, as the injury has meant that he has had to postpone a holiday to New York - for which he was scheduled to depart tomorrow.

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:zINDHcOaghcJ:https://www.si.com/soccer/2018/06/03/incoming-liverpool-midfielder-naby-keita-suffers-injury-setback-international-duty+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&client=firefox-b

http://www.sportbuzzer.de/artikel/rb-leipzigs-naby-keita-erleidet-wadenverletzung/

Going to NY on holiday? Probably just couple of days sightseeing before hitting up California like the rest of 'em. As long as it's not something serious it's a non eventful injury. So looking forward to see him in a red shirt next season.

12 more days until he is ours! How exciting!!!!!!

https://twitter.com/LFC/status/1011927189078577152?s=19

https://twitter.com/LFC/status/1011926960090607616?s=19

https://twitter.com/LFC/status/1011929788540473345?s=19

https://twitter.com/LFC/status/1011929083826135041?s=19

https://twitter.com/LFC/status/1011928428973625344?s=19

Did we announce this today to overshadow the devastating news Fellaini is staying at united ?

Did we announce this today to overshadow the devastating news Fellaini is staying at united ?

Yes

I'm so excited with Naby, the only issue is that he only knows French :/ However, football is an universal language. Just ask Suarez, Firmino and Coutinho.

I'm so excited with Naby, the only issue is that he only knows French :/ However, football is an universal language. Just ask Suarez, Firmino and Coutinho.

Don't worry, we have Mane and Fabinho, perhaps Lovren and Migs too who can speak French

Keita requested to do some fitness routine on his own initiative. Nice

I'm so excited with Naby, the only issue is that he only knows French :/ However, football is an universal language. Just ask Suarez, Firmino and Coutinho.

The Boss probably knows French as well. He's our Genius.

Keita requested to do some fitness routine on his own initiative. Nice

Glad to hear it, putting the effort in before he's even officially our player.

 

Xabi Alonso on Keita

Xabi Alonso recalls competing with a ‘big personality’ when he played against Naby Keita, who he expects to thrive under the tutelage of Jürgen Klopp.

Keita will officially become a Liverpool player on Sunday after a deal was agreed to bring him to Anfield from RB Leipzig last summer.

Former Reds playmaker Alonso opposed the Guinea international twice while representing Bayern Munich during 2016-17 - the final season of his glittering playing career.

And the World Cup winner believes Keita - who was presented with Liverpool's No.8 jersey by its previous incumbent, Steven Gerrard - will prove to be an astute signing by Klopp.

“He’s a big personality. He has the hunger, the will to compete, and after in football terms he’s an all-round midfielder,” Alonso informed Liverpoolfc.com, regarding his memories of facing-off with Keita in the Bundesliga.

“[He’s] Good with the ball, he runs and dribbles very quickly with the ball, but he also likes to make things tick in the midfield.

“I think for this position in front of the holding midfielder, or even as a holding midfielder [or] close to the front three, he can have that role to find the space and to be up there. So [he’s a] good signing.

“He will have to adapt to the idea [of Klopp’s philosophy], but I don’t think that he will have many problems because he’s a great player and very complete.

“[Under] Jürgen you need to do [play like] ‘bang, bang, bang’ and if he gets it, he will do well.”

Keita leaves Leipzig having forged a reputation as one of Europe’s most dynamic midfielders over the course of his two seasons in Germany.

The 23-year-old featured in a number of different midfield positions for Ralf Rangnick’s team, but Alonso thinks he is best equipped to fulfil the role associated with his squad number at Liverpool.

“[I see him as] An eight. I would say an eight,” the Spaniard said.

“Sometimes he can play as a six, but I could see him more as an eight behind the three strikers.”

https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/first-team/305486-naby-keita-liverpool-fc-xabi-alonso-exclusive

So hyped about him and Fabinho. A midfield 3 of Wijnaldum, Fabinho and Keita would be God like imo.

The inside story of how Liverpool signed Naby Keïta

Paul Joyce, Northern Football Correspondent
June 29 2018, 5:00pm, The Times

Keïta officially becomes a Liverpool player on Sunday but has already started training at Melwood

Liverpool’s first impressions of Naby Keïta proved underwhelming. A scout had been dispatched to Red Bull Salzburg’s Champions League qualifier against Malmo in late August 2014. The Guinea midfielder was earmarked to start as the Austrian side sought to protect a 2-1, first-leg advantage.

Keïta, 19 at the time, had joined the club that summer from French side Istres on the recommendation of former Liverpool manager Gérard Houllier and word quickly spread, after an instant impression on the training ground, that he would be one to follow.

Salzburg were gaining a reputation for nurturing young talent with the club preparing to offload another African starlet in Sadio Mané, who was joining Southampton for £11.8 million and therefore not involved in the game in Sweden. To a certain extent, neither was Keïta.

The youngster in the No 8 shirt was booked, then hooked at half-time with Salzburg losing 2-0 before Malmo claimed a third goal late on to seal their passage into the group stages of the competition.

Mads Jorgensen, a former double title winner with Brondby and whose older brother is the former Denmark international Martin, was the Liverpool scout entrusted with checking on Keïta. While few conclusions could be drawn from that initial spying mission, his is an occupation where knee-jerk decisions can prove costly.

It was Jorgensen who was tasked with continuing to detail Keïta and the dossier he built up on the player from Conakry had become filled with enough positives by mid-2015 for the club’s senior scouting team of Dave Fallows and Barry Hunter to become more heavily involved.

Keïta had been presented as an option for Liverpool to sign in the summer of 2016 at the end of Jürgen Klopp’s first season in charge, only for the barriers that made his subsequent pursuit long and drawn out to emerge.

He had a long contract at Salzburg and the plan within the Red Bull empire was for him to move onto RB Leipzig. Georginio Wijnaldum was recruited by Klopp instead for £35 million from Newcastle United.

Yet all those forensic scouting reports, the building of relations with Keïta’s agent, Arena 11, who also represent Mané, have proved crucial in finally landing a talent, who officially becomes a Liverpool player on Sunday.

Bayern Munich wanted Keïta, whose first season at Leipzig marked him out as one of Europe’s up and coming talents, but Liverpool were able to make a sustained sales pitch for the best part of a year, stressing how under Klopp they were building a young, exciting squad into which he would fit seamlessly.

It was here that Mané helped directly in selling the vision in a way Bayern could not. He was able to describe to his former team-mate and friend how the club had treated him, how they had kept promises following his own arrival from Southampton in 2016 and offer insight into Klopp’s methods and how he will extract more from him.

Keïta has played in a variety of positions for both Salzburg and Leipzig — tip of a midfield diamond, side of a diamond, No 6 and No 8 — and that flexibility appealed to Klopp. Depending on what formation the Liverpool manager selects this season, it is likely Keita will play in a number of central midfield roles.

Statistics published this week offer a flavour of what he will bring. In 58 Bundesliga games for Leipzig, he contributed 150 dribbles, created 79 chances, scored 14 goals, made 12 assists, 118 interceptions and won 146 tackles.

“He will join an already incredible squad,” said Leipzig coach Ralph Hasenhuttl. “But if there’s one player I don’t have any fear that he can make it at every club in the world, then that’s Naby.”

That he is finally arriving on Merseyside owes everything to perseverance, and innovation, in the transfer market as Liverpool’s sporting director Michael Edwards first entered serious discussions with Leipzig counterpart Ralph Rangnick 12 months ago.

The Bundesliga side, newly qualified for the Champions League after a stellar campaign from Keïta, made it clear that not even an offer of €100 million would break their resolve to keep him in the summer of 2017.

And yet Liverpool ultimately ended up striking a deal that has cost them £52.75 million during that same transfer window.

There were a number of factors that prompted Edwards to propose the agreement that would kick in 12 months later. Internally, Liverpool were pursuing Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and felt that after a period of adaptation he could play No 8, while the decision had been taken not to sell Philippe Coutinho despite Barcelona’s interest.

In the short-term Klopp was content with his options, but Liverpool recognised, too, that young, dynamic central midfielders were scarce and the thought of leaving it another season with no agreement in place could have opened up the market to the remainder of Europe’s elite, making negotiations potentially more complex.

As it was, Liverpool still tried to bring forward the deal.

Coutinho’s defection to the Nou Camp for up to £142 million in January prompted Edwards to make contact with RB Leipzig again only for two obstacles to rear.

Rangnick, as revealed by The Times, delivered a curve ball when asking for England international Trent Alexander-Arnold as part of the deal which Liverpool were never going to entertain.

Furthermore, Leipzig were seeking a €30 million premium on top of the agreed fee to release Keïta which did not make financial sense to Anfield’s power brokers. Keïta would only be available for the final chunk of the season, would require a bedding in period and had already played in the Champions League and so was cup-tied for the competition. They had waited four years, another four months would not represent too much hardship.

Liverpool do not report for the start of pre-season training until Monday, but Keïta has already taken part in early sessions at Melwood at his own request.

All those scouting missions, the building of relationships behind the scenes and the complex transfer negotiations already feel worth it.

The Times

https://mobile.twitter.com/loonyroon/status/1012607008527323136

https://mobile.twitter.com/LFC/status/1013013526716276736