Liverpool leave £53m player out of their Champions League squad, new signing there in his place

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Liverpool have not included Naby Keita in their Champions League squad for the 2022/23 Group Stage. Arthur Melo is in, however.

Liverpool’s Champions League squad is in, with the Reds facing Napoli this week. There is one major decision, too – Naby Keita is out. That means the Guinean cannot play in the Group Stage and Liverpool won’t be able to add him until February.

You can see the full squad here.

New signing Arthur Melo is in there, however. It means he could well make his debut on Wednesday evening against Napoli.

There aren’t really any other surprises. Harvey Elliott and Curtis Jones don’t need registering as they’ve been at the club long enough and are under 21. 17-year-old Stefan Bajcetic does, however, and Liverpool have included him. We expect him to make a Champions League debut in the Group Stage.

Naby Keita out of Liverpool’s Champions League squad

Now, this suggests that Keita’s injury is a bad one. To the point where Liverpool don’t expect him to be available for the majority of the Group Stage. Potentially, all of it.

The 27-year-old is currently injured after all. Perhaps it’s a very serious one. Jurgen Klopp did say that Keita would be out ‘for a while’ in his press conference this week.

And this now brings into question whether Keita has a future at Anfield. He’s not currently in Liverpool’s best XI and the Champions League offered a chance for games, particularly if the Reds qualify earlier.

But now he won’t get them and is potentially injured until November. With one year left on his contract after his £53m move, what does say? It says Keita won’t get the chance to earn himself a big contract going forward. And that’s at the time when he should get the biggest contract of his career.

Jamie Carragher suggests that Keita will leave at the end of the season. It’s starting to look more and more likely, certainly. This will be a big blow to him.