When Liverpool signed Naby Keita, it was considered a coup.
At the time, he was being courted by a number of top European clubs and RB Leipzig were determined to keep hold of the midfielder for another year.
After months of back and forth throughout the 2017 pre-season, the Reds struck an agreement with Die Roten Bullen.
They allowed Keita to stay in Germany for another year while also agreeing to pay a £4m premium on top of his £48m release clause to get the deal signed-off in advance, pipping Bayern Munich, Barcelona and rival Premier League clubs to his signature.
Six years on and the 28 year old has been relegated to the appendices of James Milner and Roberto Firmino's departure. Arguably even Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is leaving amid greater fanfare.
From being one of the most sought after players in Europe, to a free agent barely attracting attention.
Where did it all go wrong for the most expensive midfielder in Liverpool's history?
'A statistical unicorn'
Keita first turned heads as a statistical unicorn during his time with Red Bull Salzburg, starring for the Austrian side as a defensive midfielder, in a box-to-box role and even as an attacking midfielder.
He then did the same for Leipzig.
In a New York Times feature published in 2019, it was revealed Liverpool’s head of research Ian Graham earmarked Keita as a top target after seeing how the midfielder showed up across his many models thanks in no small part to that versatility.
Then came the injuries.
The midfielder has been plagued throughout his time at Anfield but that isn’t the only reason his time with the club has disappointed.
Opposition worked Liverpool out
When the Reds initially made their move it was after a 2016/17 campaign in which Jurgen Klopp used Adam Lallana and Gini Wijnaldum in a midfield three anchored by Jordan Henderson.
Wijnaldum and Lallana were each involved in 15 league goals that season while Emre Can chipped in with a career high five goals from midfield.
Keita would’ve slotted in seamlessly as a box-to-box midfielder. After all, he scored eight and assisted seven goals in his debut season with Leipzig.
He was no doubt signed with this in mind. However, the Liverpool side he eventually joined was completely different.
“No playmaker in the world can be as good as a good counter-pressing situation," said Klopp on Monday Night Football during the 2016/17 season.
The Reds would look to create transitional moments as they knew they had players who could thrive in this environment. Opposition teams cottoned on to this and started to cede possession in favour of controlling space.
As a result, Liverpool ended up drawing 31% of their matches during the 2017/18 campaign. Liverpool had more ball but it was sterile possession.
Change of style pivotal in Keita struggles
Some even claimed the Reds didn’t know how to find a way past teams parking the bus.
Carlos Carvalhal, then manager of Swansea, said as much in a post-match interview following a 1-0 win during the 2017/18 season, "I said to my players that Liverpool were a top team, they are really strong, but they are a Formula 1 car.
"If you put a Formula 1 car in London in traffic, the Formula 1 car will not run very fast."
Klopp tweaked things to combat this, with play being funnelled into wide areas for Andrew Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
As a result, the midfield three weren’t getting the goals and assists from previous campaigns. Instead, they were facilitators for the full-backs.
A good stat to highlight this shift is expected assists (xA).
During the 2016/17 campaign, Roberto Firmino and Philippe Coutinho topped the charts for this metric among the Liverpool team. The following season saw Mohamed Salah, Robertson and Alexander-Arnold rank as the top three.
Liverpool ranked fourth for crosses and fifth for long passes during the 2016/17 campaign to second for crosses and third for long passes during the 2018/19 season - Keita’s first with the club.
'Forced to curb his natural instincts'
The No8 was having to be a cog in a team and this limited his individual moments. For RB Leipzig, he was regularly going on slaloming runs through the middle of the pitch and creating moments for team-mates.
For Liverpool, he was in the middle third to primarily recycle possession. He had to curb his natural instincts and play the game the team needed him to play.
A snapshot of this is that while he had more of the ball and a higher pass success rate, he was attempting fewer dribbles. In fact, his dribbles per 90 halved following his move to Anfield. Keita was attempting fewer shots too.
The team just wasn’t set up for the all-action midfielder fans witnessed in the Bundesliga, so it was always going to be a struggle for him to truly impress. His role was changed but expectations remained the same.
...like all Liverpool midfielders
It was always going to be an uphill struggle for him to make the impression many envisaged him having when he was signed. He isn’t the only midfielder that this has happened to though.
Look at what happened to Wijnaldum - every time he went away with the Netherlands he was a goal machine but for Liverpool, he was barely involved on the ball. Even Curtis Jones had to switch things up to slot into this team in 2020/21.
The role change impacts output and yet this is regularly overlooked when judging a player. As an individual, Keita suffered as a result of this. He still did a job for Liverpool though whenever he was given an opportunity.
More impact than is remembered
It is easy to forget that in 2018 he played in the first leg of the Champions League last-16 tie against Bayern, the first leg of the quarter-final against Porto and the first-leg of the semi-final against Barcelona.
He was also involved in 11 of the 17 matches Liverpool played in the league following the 2-1 loss to Manchester City, starting eight times, during the 97-point season in 2018/19.
Keita appeared in 10 of the 13 Champions League matches last season. He also started in the FA Cup semi versus Manchester City and then played in both domestic cup finals against Chelsea.
'Right player, wrong time'
The Liverpool No8 was also involved in 12 of the last 14 games of the 2021/22 campaign as the Reds finished with 92 points.
It was very much a case of right player, wrong time for Keita. He won everything while playing for the club but wasn’t anywhere near as instrumental as he perhaps should’ve been.
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