Liverpool generally have a good record when they splash the cash on a big-money signing.
The Anfield club’s top ten all-time transfers include the likes of Virgil van Dijk, Alisson, Luis Diaz and Alexis Mac Allister, who are all continuing to contribute to Arne Slot’s team this season.
But no clubs is able to escape the odd flop and one of Liverpool’s most recent transfer misfires is continuing to struggle, a year after he left the Reds on a free transfer.
Former Liverpool flop Naby Keita 'deleted' from club's website
Back in the summer of 2017, Liverpool triggered the £48million release clause and agreed a deal to bring highly-rated Guinea midfielder Naby Keita to Anfield from RB Leipzig the following summer.
Upon his eagerly-anticipated arrival, he was given the No.8 shirt that Steven Gerrard had vacated when he left the club in 2015, but a slow first season was ended prematurely by injury, with the central midfielder continuing to struggle with a variety of issues throughout his time at the club.
Keita was never able to establish himself in Jurgen Klopp’s starting XI, leaving the club at the end of the 2022/23 season when his contract expired, meaning he would go down as one of their biggest transfer flops in recent seasons.
Bundesliga side Werder Bremen signed him on a free transfer in the summer of 2023, but his struggles continued and he managed just five Bundesliga appearances last year, with the player being fined for refusing to board the team bus ahead of a trip to Bayer Leverkusen in April after being told he would not be in the starting line-up.
Bremen’s patience now appears to have run out, as Bild report that the club are looking to drum up interest for the 29-year-old in China over a move a departure.
This comes after Keita's picture was deleted from the club's website, with only his name and shirt number 18 listed on there - a significant comedown from the scenes 12 months earlier, when he arrived to much fanfare.
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In FourFourTwo’s opinion, it’s a shame to see what was once such a promising career fall by the wayside. Keita’s potential as a dynamic box-to-box midfielder was there for all to see during his time at RB Leipzig, but that was a long time ago now.
Keita’s value has cratered to €2million on Transfermarkt, down from a high of €65million in 2018. The player will turn 30 later this season and it’s hard to see him playing a significant role in European football again.
