The most expensive ball boy in the world.
Or anyoneâs for that matter.
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I love Jurgen, but didnât we try to âsettle it properlyâ with him a few times in the past? Iâm pretty sure I heard âyou wait, Naby will be back and better than everâ and then we get on the physio merry-go-round again. 
(Jurgen knows better than I about football, of course, and Naby cost a fair bit, so we all want it to work. But, at a certain point, the music must be faced.)
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Unless Keitaâs wages are exorbitant, we might as well hang onto him, and utilise him on the odd occasion he is fit, until his contract expires in 2023.
Even if we could sell him, we are unlikely to recoup a fraction of what we paid for him, which means we wonât be in any position to buy a replacement player for the foreseeable.
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Happy birthday
They are supposedly reasonably high. And we might not get anywhere near what we paid for him but surely more than if he runs his contract down and leaves for nothing? I know which would help us in the market buying an alternative to him more anyway. This summer or next I think he needs to move on. We canât possibly give him a pay rise to extend his deal when heâs already so well paid Itâd have a negative impact on other wage negotiations. And even now he can surely be sold for serious money. With his availability issues we pretty much need to replace him anyway, if he stays another year or two itâs a luxury player we might get to use sometimes but canât plan to use so need a fully operational squad without him.
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Heâll break a rib blowing out the candles on his birthday cake.
Complete waste of ÂŁ50m plus wages.
This is how it goes
Keita fit and can play
Plays
Slight tweak but should be OK
Goes on international duty and plays 2 games in 4 days. Returns home.
âNabby Keita not in the match squad todayâ tweet from James Pearce on next match day.
âKeita is out for around 4-6 weeksâ tweet from James Pearce the next day.
Out for 3 months
Repeat over 3 years.
In a season when we really needed our squad its proved that Matip (such a shame as he is fucking excellent), Keita and Ox are a waste of time so they need replacing.
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You forgot the international duty in the middle of that.
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With his injury record and in the present market?
Weâll get nine tenths of bugger all; certainly not enough to cover the cost of buying in his replacement.
Perhaps a club might be prepared to take him on loan (wages might still be an issue), but this would be of marginal benefit to us.
So, unless we have a youngster ready to take his place in the squad, we are stuck with Keita until his contract expires.
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But something is better than nothing?
If we have to replace him this summer, next summer or the summer after when would be best?
We wonât get much this summer due to the market or next summer due to final year but we get nothing the summer after that. What helps us most get his replacement in?
Also when do we need that replacement? Iâd actually argue we need to be able to play effectively without him now so Iâd try to do the recruitment this summer, a benefit of that will be the likely low prices in the market too.
If we wait till 2022 or 2023 itâll likely cost a lot more getting that creative CM than it will in 2021 but we donât really benefit much on the pitch or in incoming fee from any sale by waiting. Meanwhile we have a negative against the wage bill for another year or two that can be used better on reinforcements or contract renewals.
I personally would move him on this summer and get a younger, up and coming, player from one of the clubs struggling financially but I think he will be given one more year and theyâll attempt to sell him in 2022. Problem with that is the player may reject the move and hold out for another 12 months on good wages to try and get a personally lucrative bosman move. That will really hurt us.
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Probably turned his ankle, too.
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edited! haha
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I would be surprised if we got anything for him this summer. Whoâs going to buy him with his injury record?
Unless FSG stump up the cash, whereâs our money to buy players this Summer?
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Well first off we can sell players we canât rely on for whatever we can get. Based on what business has been done over the last two windows we would still get something for him. Every little raised helps. And if we are saying we canât sell for much in this environment then it wonât cost much to recruit either.
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Iâm not sure how much heâs still regarded in Germany and i know swap deals donât tend to happen that often,but iâd go down the route of sending him back to RBL in a straight swap with one of their CBâs (hopefully they still see him as a 50mill type player).
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all i said was happy birthday!
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