Former Premier League winner Ray Parlour has said that Liverpool midfielder is the ‘only one’ of Reds boss Jurgen Klopp’s signings who hasn’t worked out for the club.
The Guinea international joined from RB Leipzig in the summer of 2018 for big money, but due to injury problems and poor form he simply hasn’t got going.
Parlour is certainly of that line of thinking: “The only one who probably hasn’t really worked out for him as he’d like has been Keita,” he said on talkSPORT [04/11; 09:07]. “He bought him for £52million, midfielder, but he hasn’t been the player they bought in.
“He’s not improved as much as probably he would have liked – he’s had his injury problems. Half of these players he’s brought in have been absolutely different class.”
OPINION
The big thing for Keita has certainly been injuries, because they’ve consistently struck at frustrating times for the 24-year-old. Just when he was getting going for the Reds in the Premier League and the latter stages of the Champions League last season, he went down with an injury which ended his campaign. That was a big blow for the former Leipzig man, and he’s yet to fully recover from it in terms of his form and fitness. The statistics show that he simply hasn’t managed to settle in on Merseyside. As per WhoScored.com, Keita scored just three times in his debut season for the Reds, while he’s failed to hit the target this term. There have been some promising signs, though. He is averaging 1.2 shots and 1.4 successful dribbles per game this campaign despite a distinct lack of football. So he’s certainly not a lost cause but, as Parlour says, he’s probably not quite worked out as well as some of Klopp’s other recruits.
