Written by James Cranford – @jamescranford89
Following Monday night’s result at home to Crystal Palace, it is a case of two games, two draws so far for Liverpool. They have entered the 22/23 season short of numbers in midfield, with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Thiago, Curtis Jones and Naby Keita all missing minutes. More concerning news about the latter player broke last night, with Sky Germany’s Florian ‘Plettigoal’ Plettenberg tweeting that the Guinean is ‘unhappy with his current situation’.
If the reports are true and with Keita’s contract up at the end of the season, this leaves the Reds in a tricky situation. Do they try and offload the player now, when short of midfield numbers? Or do they risk losing their former record signing for free if he cannot be convinced to stay?
On the latest episode of our Journo Insight Show, we asked goal.com’s Neil Jones for an update from inside the camp.
Neil said:
“If he is unhappy (which he may well be) Liverpool don’t know about it. No transfer request has gone in or ‘let me leave’. The [contract] conversation took place with his agent (who is also Sadio’s agent) earlier this month, face to face. Liverpool’s aim is still to agree a contract with him, whether they will or not, it’s really hard to pitch what you’re offering Naby Keita. Where does he stand in terms of wages, how incentivised is it? How much are you willing to commit over a four/five-year contract? It’s difficult. Liverpool certainly don’t want to lose him on a free. I think that would be preferable to letting him go now, because they need players, they don’t need to be selling players. I think he would have a market in Germany, either in January or next summer. As it stands, I am pretty certain he will stay at Liverpool. If he did say ‘I’ve had enough’, I know Liverpool would be pretty cheesed off that he would do that so late in the transfer window.”
Redmen Reacts
Could this prove a divisive end to the career of one of Liverpool’s most divisive modern players? Naby Keita has had an up-and-down time on Merseyside, with good spells often curtailed by injury or a poor performance.
The Reds’ midfield would need major surgery if Keita were to leave, with James Milner and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain expected to do the same at the end of this season. Julian Ward’s team should continue to try and get the mercurial 27-year-old to sign a contract, even if purely to guarantee a fee for him.
A part-exchange deal with Borussia Dortmund over Jude Bellingham has been discussed, but these sort of deals tend to be far more common in the virtual world than they do in real life.
If Keita has ‘seen dollar signs’ and is intending to run down his contract to pick up a large wage at his next club, he has left his current employers in the lurch with only 13 days to sign a replacement. Towards the end of last season the Guinean was involved in some crucial games for the Reds, so hopefully a compromise can be found sooner rather than later.
