Liverpool midfielder Naby Keita has been called up for international duty for Guinea’s fixtures later this month.
As per feguifoot.com, the Liverpool man will report for duty to face Ivory Coast and Algeria on 23rd and 27th of September respectively.
Of course, under normal circumstances, this wouldn’t be news. Keita is his country’s captain and key man after all. But this isn’t normal circumstances. Liverpool’s no.8 has been injured since August. He was even left out of The Reds Champions League squad as a result.
There are no details of Keita’s injury included in the report from the Guinea Federation of Football. Something isn’t adding up.
Keita situation needs clearing up, and fast
This slightly disconcerting news comes hot on the heels of Liverpool’s chastening defeat at the hands of Napoli last night.
With The Reds struggling for bodies in midfield, 36-year-old James Milner was asked to go again. Playing alongside a teenaged Harvey Elliott and a shattered Fabinho, the result was grimly predictable.
There’s no guarantee that Keita could have changed that. He has been known to struggle in Europe in the past, even being taken off before half-time in Liverpool’s quarter-final defeat to Real Madrid in 2021. But having another option certainly would have helped Klopp.
If he is fit to play, then obviously something has gone very, very wrong behind the scenes.
There were numerous reports before transfer deadline day that Keita isn’t happy at Liverpool. The 27-year-old reportedly even made some demands to start The Reds’ game against Manchester United in August.
When the game rolled around, Keita wasn’t in the squad, with Klopp citing an injury ‘out of nowhere.’
With injuries blighting him throughout his time at Liverpool, this isn’t something unusual. It must be said too that Keita has been included in the Guinea squad whilst being injured in the past. Something that has angered his club.
But between his reported unhappiness and his omission from the Champions League squad, something doesn’t smell right. This is a situation that’s really going to need some clearing up over the next two weeks.
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