Naby KEITA: 2020/21

But we received some loan fees for him.

Less than half, no?

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Markovic, Downing and Carroll take those spots.

The likes of Aquilani and Keita might be sicknotes but at least they were/are actually good players.

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Yeah you right.

And Balotelli, no matter how hard I try to forget about his spell here.

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Christ, yeah, Iā€™d forgotten about him.

Iā€™d also put forward Albie Moreno. At least Balotelli only graced us with his presence for a season.

The problem is, I remember talking to @ZinedineBiscan when the news broke and we both convinced ourselves that in a summer in which weā€™d done bad business trying to replace Luis, this was a fairly low risk punt. After all, we still had Sturridge and Sterling to carry the creating/scoring load and stretch defenses, so Mario was a kind of canā€™t lose punt. If it works, great. If doesnt weā€™ve still got top players to play instead.

Then Sturidge broke and Sterling took his ball home.

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I think that if you combine the letters of their names in a certain order and pronounce it backwards three times, gates of Hell will open on Earth.

I remember the exact moment I read that Balotelli would join Liverpool, exact time, exact place. I spent my break at work outside, sat on a bench, read the reports on my phone, shrugged my shoulders and thought ā€œyeah, it could workā€. And then I went back to work, spent the whole day and night there. I knew I was deluding myself but it wouldnā€™t have been right to write him off just like that. I wonder what would have been if he had scored one of the sitters he had away to Tottenham.

Keita was just the opposite, he was one of the small group of players I just knew Klopp would be interested in because he just fit his style. I literally jumped from my office seat when I read the first report of Liverpoolā€™s interest in him, it was in Echo. I thought we were getting a future world class midfielder, for me there was no way he wouldnā€™t have worked. I had my doubts over Salah, for example, but none over Keita. His failure is on my optimism, sorry everyone.

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For me never thought Balotelli was a good buy, just mentally unstable and lazy.

However was really exited in regards to Keita and thought he would help take us to the next level.

Just thinking outside of the box and is it conceivable Keita goes out on loan somewhere? Wouldnā€™t be the worst idea. Get a nice long run of matches, get his fitness up and just enjoy his football once again. Heā€™s most certainly not ā€œtoo goodā€ to be loaned out. Many players better than Keita have done loan spells.

Guys, stop discussing other flops in this thread. I thought thereā€™s some solid rumour about Keita and got burned. :rage:

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Yeh, maybe to a medical research facility!

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How long is his contract? Depends how much Liverpool feel they can take a loss on him.

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June 2023 :blush:

It actually presents a bit of a problem, because if we give him another year to sort himself out and he doesnā€™t, heā€™s only got a year left and well into run it down and leave on a free territory.

If he does have a blinder next year, then heā€™s still only got a year left and renewing at that point could be difficult.

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We are in the same situation with Chamberlain too.

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I think a decision has to be made. Extend but only if heā€™s willing to stay on same pay or, ideally, lower (unlikely) or sell. Got to be brutal and think of the financial makeup of the squad, its not good him being on higher pay than many who contribute a lot more and thereā€™s a lot of finances wrapped up in him for a player who offers such a bit part role. Same with Ox as @Iftikhar says. Iā€™d actually quite happily replace Gini, Keita and Ox with Jones being given a more prominent role and one top class young CM with top line potential such as Camavinga. Jones cameo/squad depth role could then go to someone from the academy or even Wilson for a year or two as itā€™s a role that wouldnā€™t be used much in that situation.

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If heā€™s to be kept next season Iā€™d be offering him a new contract which is a low basic but can achieve a decent level based on availability.

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Keita has clocked 3,926 mins over three seasons. AOC has clocked 4,539 mins over four seasons. By comparison, Milner has clocked 16,367 mins over five season. In fact, in 2015-16 alone, he clocked 3,862 mins.

Keita and AOC are in their prime (age) and if they canā€™t match the minutes of an over-the-hill Milner, they are never going to be useful for us. Pardon me for saying this, but I would rather take (another) chance on Grujic and Wilson.

We canā€™t have two players who contribute like fringe players but are among our top-earners. We donā€™t have that luxury. Cut the losses, sell them for whatever fees we can get.

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Seriously doubt he accepts that.