One player who was part of Liverpool’s peak years under Jurgen Klopp has suffered a damning fall from grace since leaving Anfield.
Naby Keita departed at the end of his contract in 2023 and went on to join Werder Bremen, where it’s fair to say that things haven’t gone to plan for the midfielder.
As per Bild, the Bundesliga side were seeking to offload him in the summer after he was suspended for refusing to travel with the squad for a fixture against Bayer Leverkusen in April upon learning that he wouldn’t be starting.
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The club agreed a loan move to Hatayspor and were left furious when the 29-year-old pulled the plug on the deal because he didn’t want to relocate to Turkey, although the German news outlet reported that there has been contact from Chinese clubs regarding a possible transfer.
Werder’s football licensing director Peter Niemeyer has said that they are ‘waiting’ for offers to materialise for Keita, with sporting director Clemens Fritz reiterated last weekend that there’s no way back for Keita at the Weserstadion.
Keita has basically been left in limbo at Werder, training on his own and frozen out of the senior setup until such time that somebody else takes him off their hands. His photo has been also removed from the first-team squad on the club’s official website in an unsubtle indication of his pariah status in Bremen.
Even though the midfielder’s all too frequent injury problems were a source of constant frustration during his time at Liverpool, it’s sad to see his reputation disintegrate to such a degrading extent in northern Germany, and the status quo is benefitting nobody.
The Guinea international had his moments to remember at Anfield, scoring in a Champions League quarter-final against Porto and a famous 5-0 win away to Manchester United, along with netting the winner against Newcastle in the Premier League title run-in in 2021/22.
Unfortunately, it’s clear that he’s now burned his bridges with Werder, and the sooner that he agrees a transfer to another club to resurrect his dormant career, the better for everybody concerned.
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