We should have learned our lesson from Sturridge. When it’s so obvious how injured player is likely to be, it’s best to just try and move them on as soon as possible.
Keita is a really good player, but he’s never going to get over his injuries. This was obvious for some time.
Maybe we have tried and failed to move him on, I have no idea, but right now, the best thing to do is cut or losses, take it on the chin and say thanks and goodbye in the summer.
And yet another one, let’s all try to understand reading comprehension …
I genuinely wonder how it is possible for players with such horrendous injury records to find new clubs at a high level. I guess it has a lot to do with agents’ connections but surely there won’t be a club who will offer him what Liverpool otherwise wouldn’t (a sort of heavily incentivised contract that reflects his availability more than anything else)? I’d keep him here as a luxury player by definition - he’s pretty good when he plays and offers things that our other midfielders don’t - but I don’t believe that he would accept it.
It tells that the club is being extra careful with Keita. There is no question who is the starter when both are fully fit.
I havent read the article but presumably it would be in addition to bringing two new players in to help with the transition of our midfield which would probably need to be done over a couple of windows given we will probably see most of them move on in that time?
I don’t know who Graeme Bailey is.
I like Keita, even if he will never be what I hoped/thought he would be. Still, no need to make something of him which he isn’t. Yes, availability is his main problem, but even when he’s fit, is he the player we thought we would be getting? Let’s be real, he’s not. He’s good, but not that good.
Time to move on, at least from Ox and Keita, if not another one or two. I don’t want us to carry some of these players for years and years. Klopp needs to be a bit more ruthless. These guys are not the versatile and useful Kuba at Dortmund, we already have the likes of Millie for that.
I’m sorry but putting all the possible likings aside and purely objective, they don’t deserve new contracts. And no, it’s not worth to do it to “protect their value” or something. Like Claude would say, it’s time to go.
I’d actually say that yes, when he is fit and in form he is a great player. The problem is that he is often injured, takes a couple of games to get in form, looks brilliant for a couple of games and then is injured again.
It is this lack of reliable fitness that is a huge problem with our midfield. There will always be a mix of young, up and coming players, reliable older experienced players and the stalwarts in their mid to late 20s who will be the backbone of the team.
Keita is 27 (soon to be 28), Oxlade-Chamberlain is 29, Fabinho is 29. These should be the core key players in the squad but two are constantly injured and the form of the other seems to have gone off a cliff.
As a result we are relying on the likes of Hendo and Milner who are very much in the senior phase of their careers or the likes of Jones and Elliott who are still in the early stage of their development (and also injured with the former).
If you think a few years back we had a very solid core with Gini and Hendo who could be easily swapped out by older and/or younger players to see a game out. We just don’t have that reliable backbone now.
For me, it’s different.
He’s good, but certainly not great. Usually doesn’t need much time to come in and do well. A few situations aside, the Midtjylland and Real away (when Klopp took him off in the first half) games.
Age is one thing, but quality and importance is another. It’s been clear for a while now that Ox will not be a core player for us.
We need to get rid of some players where it’s clear that it’s simply not happening, for us to get some new fresh ones in and then slowly build a “new midfield”. The new core you’re talking about.
The fact that Keita is the only one in between at the age of 27 is not enough of an argument for me to give him a new contract.
I suspect that if he is given a new contract it would be more for commercial reasons - use him as a bargaining chip in a player swap.
Then again, who would want a player who’s legs have all the resilience of a Crunchie bar?
Player swaps are so rare, that is more of a FM thing or in our imagination that it easily goes through. So many parties need to agree on a specific timing. He’ll be 28 next month. It’s more likely that we will end up stuck with him until the age of 31-32. He will have had 5 years at Liverpool. That’s a pretty good chance. I don’t even think he’s crazy about a new contract either. Near the end of last season and last summer it was said that we’re willing to give him one. No similar news since then. I think both parties are now calm over the fact that they will go separate ways next summer.
Not sure about that - he has reportedly been available but no-one has met out asking price. letting him go so we have his wages freed up would make more sense in that regard.
Naby can look so good on the ball sometimes, it’s easy to think ‘we’ll maybe offer him another year’. But really I think it would be better for both parties to part ways and look to the future. He hasn’t had a chance to improve and develop into a better player since he came here really which is such a shame. I hope he moves to a less physically demanding league and has a great 5 years or so, and make us regret getting rid of him.
He has been writing about Liverpool on various blogs for years, particularly transfer rumours - He’s no Paul Joyce 
There is a big chance that Keita is not actually 27. 
I wouldn’t be against offering Keita an extension if wages were in line with his availability and he is seen as a squad player for quality depth in midfield. He can’t be relied upon as a starter, but if his minutes are managed, what an option off the bench he’d be. Like @Zoran, I don’t believe he’s a game changing player. He’s not going to go win you a match. But he is definitely quality and is more than good enough for this team as a squad player. That role is perfect for him given his fitness record.
As for Ox, I just don’t think he’s good enough and the club can’t seem to find a position for him. He was in excellent form prior to his injury and perhaps if that had not happened he’d be flying. We’ll never know. Definitely time for him to move on.
Keita, I wouldn’t be can understand why you would but only if you did bring alternatives in via the window.
Ox looks sadly a shadow of his best for some time now. He just isn’t and I doubt he will ever be the player we saw before his injury.
Yet stats wise the team’s performance is better both offensively and defensively when he plays than when he is absent…
Ox is also about 15 years older than when he used to play well for us and score. Those aren’t years in his legs, they’re in his arse so long has he sat in the physio’s room.
“Wouldn’t be against offering Naby a new deal.”…“Can see why we’d offer Naby a new deal”
Ox and Keita are so far away from what we need not even funny.
Midfield becoming a laughing stock. May aswell bring back Lucas Levia ffs