Liverpool’s reported £5m plan puts Naby Keita against the clock

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Liverpool reportedly have a plan for 2022 and it’s one that puts Naby Keita against the clock. The Guinean must make things click this year.

There’s little doubt that the plan was for Naby Keita to be a superstar at Liverpool. The £53m they paid remains the club’s third-highest spend, with only Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker costing more.

The club doesn’t put up that kind of cash without wanting a ready-made star. Unfortunately, they didn’t get that with Keita.

His impact over the last three years has been minimal, to say the least. The talent is certainly there and Keita has had some promising games.

But it just never sticks. We can’t actually look back at the last three years and find many moments where he made a real, defining difference.

So with that in mind, reports out of Italy should perhaps worry Keita.

Naby Keita under threat by new plan

Corriere Dello Sport claims Liverpool want Franck Kessie. He’s in the final year of his contract now and the Reds are happy to pay him £5m-a-year.

That’s what he’s asking from AC Milan but they’re not committing to it. Liverpool hope that gives them a shot at him.

Kessie would come in ahead of Keita in the pecking order, as things stand. He’s been comfortably better over the last few years and we find it hard to believe Liverpool would pay him that without a significant role in mind.

Fabinho, Jordan Henderson and Thiago are already ahead of Keita, of course. Curtis Jones could well be, too, at the rate he’s going.

The silver lining here is that Keita has time, though he’s up against the clock. Liverpool want Kessie at the end of his contract in 2022, rather than this summer.

Keita effectively has one year to secure a starting role, then, assuming CDS are correct. If Kessie arrives and the 26-year-old is still questionable, there could be no way back.