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Naby Keita staying with Liverpool after lack of suitable bids

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A lack of suitable bids is a factor in Naby Keita staying with Liverpool this summer, according to reports. The 26-year-old is running out of time.

This comes from the Athletic. They claim Naby Keita is definitely staying at Liverpool next season but that doesn’t mean his place is secure.

The article mentions a ‘lack of suitable bids’ being a factor there. The suggestion is that a decent offer would have seen Keita leave Liverpool.

In fact, the other reasons aren’t exactly glowing appraisals of Keita’s quality. Liverpool are also keeping him around as they’re short after Gini Wijnaldum’s exit and a lack of substantial transfer funds makes replacing both him and Keita difficult.

And so Keita will still be around – though, as the report mentions, it’s make or break for the Guinean.

Naby Keita staying with Liverpool

We wouldn’t have been at all surprised if Keita left this summer. He’s going into the final two years of his contract and is yet to perform anything like we expected.

It sounds as though circumstances will give him another opportunity, however.

As we’ve said before, Keita is up against the clock now – he needs to finally find his form. It’s hard to see a Liverpool future beyond this season if he fails.

FC Liverpool v VfB Stuttgart  - Blitz Tournament
Photo by John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images

It sounds as though Liverpool may have had a similar perspective on the player if they really were open to offers. Instead, they get another chance to turn him into the £53m player they paid for.

Can Keita be that, though? We’d say he can. You see flashes of it every now and then – a dribble, a pass etc. The problem is that it’s never even remotely consistent.

But the talent is there and we saw it come together in Germany. Liverpool, for whatever reason, just can’t get the same results RB Leipzig did.

And as we head into the 2021/22 season, they get one more shot at correcting that. Maybe this is the year?