It was factors beyond the control of either the club or the player that led to his impact being limited.
It is a failed transfer considering the expectations and the fact that Liverpool rarely if ever got a high profile transfer totally wrong under Klopp.
He would have been a middling to average type of transfer for any other top 6 team but just the fact that Liverpool were unable to dispose of him cheaply (which the cheating scums of Chelsea and City are well versed in doing) made it a failure. These clubs can write someone like Keita off as a bad investment and dispose of him whereas we cannot. We scout our targets immensely and require that our every transfer business is successful for us to compete to win the league.
We lost out quite a bit when the likes of Keita and Ox were hampered by injuries. Thatâs a fact. Weâve had to rely on Milner and Henderson more than needed because these two players werenât on the pitch enough. It took the emergence of Jones , Elliot and the later additions of Grav , Dom , Mac & Endo to get the midfield working again whereas if both Keita and Ox had been fit , we would have had the midfield rebuild finished much more easily and earlier.
In a parallel universe where Ox , Keita remained fit we would have been up there competing for the title in the last season as well and might well have won it. A Fabinho could have been upgraded easily and a midfield lineup of Ox , Keita , Thiago , Henderson , Milner with a DM along with Jones , Elliot coming through should have been more than handy ( provided the two were fit enough for the season )
They werenât fit enough and that was the key. Pair that with Milner and Henderson getting older , Fabinho losing his legs almost entirely and thatâs led to the clusterfuck.
We could have still managed UCL still though but thatâs not the point. Two high profile players who were bought to do a job in midfield werenât fit enough to play.
Why are we comparing Thiago and Keita? The fact is, no matter how great they were or could have been, when we talked about the greatest midfielders and their contributions in Kloppâs era, these two donât even come near to Hendo, Gini, Fabinho and even Milner.
Ox had very few good performances but those two or three against Man City early on - not many midfield performances in the Klopp era are getting close.
Exactly, even Lallana who struggled with the high tempo initially, contributed alot more game time and hustles in the latter stages of his time here. Thiago, Keita and as you rightly added, Ox, are all talented players in their own right but in Liverpool, we hardly seen that because of their injuries and while you can live off what could have been, you are only as good as when you are able to play. But as a fan, I am absolutely happy with these 3 players of course because despite their inability to get on the field often, they have respected the club and fans always.
Lallanaâs best season/period with us was 16/17 (when he was moved into central midfield, at RCM), just like Thiagoâs 21/22. Itâs a shame he could never come back to that level when he got injured in pre-season in 2017.
Apparently the most expensive premier league player per minute isâŚ
Oumar Niasse
The Everton forward was the most costly, taking home ÂŁ138,947 every minute after just 19 min played with a weekly salary of ÂŁ55,000. He appeared just three times before going on loan to Cardiff in January.
