Even Naby Keita’s staunchest of supporters would struggle to argue he has lived up to his £52.75m price-tag since joining Liverpool in 2018.
The Guinean has enjoyed something of a rollercoaster Reds career so far, and now, three and a half years into life at Anfield, that doesn’t look likely to change anytime soon.
His Liverpool career has been littered with highs and lows as the midfielder struggles for consistency in between recurring injury problems.
For every screamer scored against Chelsea, there is a first-half substitution against Real Madrid following a poor performance. For every outstanding display at Old Trafford, there is a lengthy injury lay-off just on the horizon.
Yes, he is an English champion but he made just 18 Premier League appearances in 2019/20.
Yes, he is an European champion but he featured just six times in the Champions League in 2018/19 and missed the final through injury, having limped off in the semi-final first-leg defeat to Barcelona.
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And while he is a world champion, too, the FIFA Club World Cup final is the only final he has actually featured in for the Reds, with an injury suffered in training on the eve of the European Super Cup final ruling him out on that occasion.
Liverpool have ultimately grown accustomed to such frustrations when it comes to the Guinean midfielder.
Jurgen Klopp knows Keita won’t be available to him every week and there will be some matches where he proves to be pretty anonymous. But when he’s fit and on form, he is simply unplayable.
Keita caught the eye last month when captaining Guinea at the Africa Cup of Nations, putting in two man-of-the-match displays against Malawi and Senegal before scoring a stupendous long-range effort against Zimbabwe. However, he was suspended for their round-of-16 clash with Gambia as his homeland was eliminated in his absence.
Still, his performances caught the eye of his club manager and supporters alike, as is always the case when the midfielder stands up and delivers.
He has an ability to create excitement more than nearly any other in the Reds squad, with each new highlight accompanied by a desire that this could be the time Keita can put injuries behind him and cement his place in the Liverpool starting XI once and for all.
In truth, his price-tag has not helped when it comes to the expectation and frustration levelled at his door. It is that fee that makes those in Red so desperate to see more from him and avoid having to write him off as an expensive gamble that didn’t pay off.
Thiago Alcantara is guilty of a similar Reds career, with injuries breaking up and disrupting the possibility of consistent quality performances. But at least the Spaniard only cost half the price and is spared such scrutiny as a result.
And the manner of Keita’s arrival at Anfield arguably did not help either, with Liverpool agreeing a deal with RB Leipzig a good 12 months before he became a Reds player.
In that season spent waiting, supporters saw highlights of a midfield dominating Bundesliga sides while storming from box-to-box, registering nine goals and seven assists from 39 games in domestic league and cup action as well as in the Champions League and Europa League.
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But you can’t judge a player by highlight reels on YouTube and social media, overhyping every goal, pass and piece of skill, as Liverpool have since found out.
Compare that to the reception Gini Wijnaldum’s signature had received in 2016, having enjoyed a solid debut season in England with Newcastle United only to suffer relegation.
Supporters were arguably underwhelmed by the Dutchman’s £25m arrival, having been able to watch him at close quarters for an entire season in England.
Yet the Wijnaldum at Anfield was a very different prospect to the one that had gone before as Klopp transformed a goalscoring, attacking midfielder into a more withdrawn, controlling player.
Scoring 11 goals and registering five assists from 38 Premier League appearances in his sole season with Newcastle, having enjoyed 14, 18 and even a 20-goal season in the Netherlands, had he been signed from overseas a year before he was actually able to play for the Reds, would the Dutchman have been accompanied by such hype and pressure?
Alternatively, if Keita had spent a year in the Premier League and linked up with Liverpool straight away, with Reds fans having a better idea of the player they were getting without a season to build up his arrival, would the Guinean’s Anfield career have been spared the same frustrating status?
The midfielder will always be a player that splits opinion like no other in Klopp’s squad and, with the German now pretty much boasting his full selection of eight senior options in the engine room after Harvey Elliott and Thiago’s return from injury, it will be intriguing to see just how often Keita is turned to from the start in the remaining weeks and months of the season.
If you were to ask supporters to name Liverpool’s strongest midfield, Fabinho is the only one whose place all fans could agree on, with opinions split between Jordan Henderson, Thiago, Elliott and Keita for the remaining two berths.
But it’s not just a starting role Keita is now playing for, it’s his Reds future as well.
Given all the talk regarding Mohamed Salah’s contract expiring in 2023, it’s easy to forget he is not the only Liverpool star with a cloud hanging over his long-term future at the club.
Sadio Mane’s match-winning performances at the Africa Cup of Nations, firing Senegal to continental glory for the first time in their history, provided a timely reminder that he still has a lot to offer ahead of his own deal expiring in 2023, while Roberto Firmino and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain have also entered the final 18 months of their contracts.
But so too has Keita.
Today celebrating his 27th birthday, he is the youngest of the quintet with uncertain futures up against expiring contracts, while Elliott and Curtis Jones are the only senior midfielders younger than him on the books at Anfield, suggesting he is more than capable of having future at the club despite his inconsistency and varying availability.
But with Liverpool’s ageing squad in this transitional period, the Reds have a number of difficult decisions to make when it comes to players with patchy injury records and expiring contracts.
Under Klopp’s watch Mario Balotelli, Jose Enrique, Lazar Markovic, Emre Can, Daniel Sturridge, Alberto Moreno, Nathaniel Clyne, Adam Lallana and Gini Wijnaldum have all left the club on free transfers, which Divock Origi and Loris Karius look set to join them in the summer.
While you can’t dispute the departure of most of these players, Liverpool spent £154m when signing them and banked nothing when they left. Such an approach can not continue.
And they simply can’t keep hold of a handful of players who are only available for half a season each year.
Yet if the Reds were to cash in on Keita to avoid him joining this list, they would inevitably make a loss on the £52.75m fee they paid for him in the first place.
Only managing 10 Premier League appearances last year, his total of 25 in his first year is his best at Anfield. Currently on 11 league outings for the season, the best he can now manage before May is 27. As a result, it means he still has only ever recorded more than 30 league appearances in a campaign once throughout his career.
While Salah and Mane’s performances at AFCON ensured talks about their only futures at Liverpool continue, Keita’s has so far been left unsaid.
But as the Reds continue to challenge on four fronts, he needs to consistently contribute enough to make sure his contract status becomes talked about.
He has repeatedly shown he has the talent to be a long-term success at Anfield but what he has lacked is the durability.
Now, with less than 18 months left on his contract, the question remains is he a player worth sticking with?
Keita will never be the YouTube showreel player Liverpool fans thought the club was signing when the deal was first announced in 2017. Supporters have to give up on the idea of that player that never existed, with the midfielder's Anfield career so far forcing a re-think when it comes to debating the credentials of the £52.75m man.
But if he can deliver enough moments befitting of such highlights packages in the remainder of this season and the next, maybe that would be enough.
