Dennis Wise heaped praise on Liverpool midfielder Naby Keita for his display against West Ham and compared him to Chelsea’s N’Golo Kanté.
The Sky Sports pundit suggested that the 23-year-old Reds central midfielder was the ‘offensive’ version of the Blues’ midfielder after revealing how impressed he was with Keita during his side’s 4-0 win over the Hammers.
Wise claimed that he now understood why Jurgen Klopp was so eager to bring Keita to Anfield as he was able to break the play up as well as help his side going forward.
“Naby Keita, I thought was absolutely outstanding, he’s like a kinda of offensive Kante, going forward and y’know he’s breaking things up but also getting on the end of things,” said Wise on Sky Sports News (Monday 13 August, 10:19am).
“Making passes, decisive passes and I looked at his overall game and you could see that Klopp was very excited, he had to wait a year for him and couldn’t wait to get him in the building, and I can see why now as he is absolutely fantastic.”
OPINION
It shows how comfortable Keita looked in the Premier League for Wise to compared the midfielder to Kante. The Chelsea midfielder, who earns £120,000-a-week at Stamford Bridge (Source: Spotrac), is one of the brightest talents in the division and has been a force for both the Blues as well as Leicester City in his career so far. If Keita is able to have anywhere near the same impact that Kante has had in England’s top-flight then Reds supporters will be very happy. It’s easy to see why Wise was practically drooling over Keita’s display against the Hammers on Sunday as the player seemed to be everywhere at once. The 23-year-old never looked like running out of energy and was able to dictate the tempo while also positively influencing the result. If the powerful midfielder is able to keep delivering performances like that in the Premier League then he will soon be a fan favourite and could help bring silverware to Anfield in no time.
