Naby Keita menyambut hari lahirnya yang ke-28 dengan tanda tanya berterusan mengenai masa depannya di Liverpool
Sekilas pandang pada perpindahan termahal dalam sejarah Liverpool memberi gambaran yang jelas.
Terdapat orang-orang seperti Virgil van Dijk, Alisson Becker dan Luis Diaz, pemain yang mempunyai wang besar yang telah membuktikan nilai perbelanjaan yang begitu mahal. Mohamed Salah dan Sadio Mane adalah contoh pemain yang, walaupun dengan bayaran perpindahan berpuluh-puluh juta, telah menjadi tawaran murah.
Hadir juga adalah kegagalan, Andy Carroll mahupun Christian Benteke tidak dapat mewajarkan kos mereka. Tambahan pula terdapat pemain baharu, dengan Darwin Nunez bersedia untuk memimpin sekiranya The Reds perlu membayar sepenuhnya untuk pelaburan £85 juta mereka. Ketibaan Januari Cody Gakpo adalah nama terbaru dalam senarai eksklusif.
Tetapi di sana, berdiri sebagai pemain keempat Liverpool paling mahal sepanjang masa, ialah Naby Keita. Dan hampir enam tahun sejak ketibaannya pertama kali disahkan, pemain Guinea itu kekal sebagai ahli skuad The Reds yang paling berpecah belah.
Perlu diingat bahawa apabila Liverpool bersetuju pada Ogos 2017 untuk mencetuskan klausa pelepasan £48 juta ditambah premium £4.75 juta, ia menjadikan Keita sebagai pembelian termahal kelab itu, walaupun pada masa dia membuat penampilan kompetitif dia telah diatasi oleh kedua-dua Van Dijk dan Alisson.
The almost 12-month wait for Keita to switch from RB Leipzig ultimately proved a millstone around the midfielder’s neck, allowing expectation to build to an almost unhealthy level. Rarely has a player had a full year being scrutinised by supporters in the knowledge he would soon be a Liverpool player.
Indeed, it’s worth noting the Reds have since not made public any pre-arranged deals until the time approached for the player to make the move.
Now, as he celebrates his 28th birthday today, Keita appears to be coming to the end of his Liverpool career, talk over a new contract offer having gone silent for several months and, with the player now able to open discussions with clubs from abroad, interest arriving from several potential suitors. The Reds are poised to lose the midfielder for nothing come the end of the campaign.
Only the most mean-spirited could call Keita’s time at Anfield a failure. He was important in helping seal Liverpool’s first-ever Club World Cup triumph, started both the League Cup and FA Cup final wins over Chelsea last season and easily made enough outings to earn a Premier League winners’ medal in 2020.
But even the Guinean’s most ardent supporters would be hard-pressed to convince anyone he has been an outstanding success.
Keita, of course, has seen his time hampered by continued injuries, which have restricted him to just 127 appearances and 11 goals over four-and-a-half campaigns. Last season was his most productive in terms of outings, making 40 in total.
Despite his plethora of fitness issues, mentally Keita has proven himself rather more durable. Many of his injury issues have come at unfortunate times – such as during the first half of the Champions League semi-final at Barcelona, or the day before the UEFA Super Cup final against Chelsea – while few wouldn’t have been surprised had Keita not played again after being given the hook before half-time in the Champions League quarter-final at Real Madrid two years ago. Yet on each occasion, he has dusted himself off and gone again.
Intriguingly, Keita has started three of the four major Liverpool finals for which he has been available, along with three of four semi-final matches. If he’s fit, Klopp has regularly turned to him on the big occasion. That, though, is the big ‘if’ that will perhaps be the player’s legacy.
Setelah terlepas bahagian pertama musim ini, Keita telah memulakan empat perlawanan terakhir ketika Liverpool ingin menghidupkan semula bahagian tengah dan kempen mereka. Klopp, seperti biasa, tidak melihat sebarang isu memilih pemain yang menghampiri penghujung perjanjian mereka dengan syarat dia kekal berguna.
Tetapi tanpa mengira pendapat mengenai pemain tengah, ada satu perkara yang semua orang bersetuju. Keita kekal sebagai enigma Anfield yang muktamad.
