When Liverpool agreed to sign Naby Keita in the summer of 2017, the deal they struck with RB Leipzig would have made the Guinean a club record signing.
The Reds would end up paying £52.75m for the midfielder 12 months later, having reached a unique agreement with the Bundesliga outfit. With Jurgen Klopp desperate to sign Keita, but Leipzig determined to retain his services for a further season, as they competed in the Champions League for the first time, Liverpool signed off on a deal ahead of a move in the summer of 2018, with the overall price set by the German side’s final league position that season.
Had they finished seventh on lower, the Reds would have parted with £48m (His basic release clause that was set to come into play in the summer of 2018). If they had qualified for the Champions League, Keita would have cost £59m. Yet a sixth place finish and Europa League qualification resulted in a £52.75m fee.
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All three figures would have been club record fees at the time of that agreement. However, by the time the Guinean’s move was officially completed, Virgil van Dijk’s £75m move from Southampton in January 2018 had already wrestled away such a label.
Having sold Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona in an £142m switch the same month as the Dutchman’s arrival, Liverpool had tried to bring Keita to Anfield six months early only for Leipzig to reject such a request. As a result, Kopites were made to wait a full year to finally see the Guinean pull on their famous red shirt.
Hype and expectation were understandably high. Keita had enjoyed an eye-catching first season with Leipzig, registering eight goals and eight assists to help clinch maiden Champions League qualification, to earn the attention and admiration of the Reds in the process.
Liverpool were linked with the then 22-year-old heavily throughout the summer of 2017, only for the Bundesliga outfit to stubbornly insist he was not for sale. By striking a deal ahead of a move 12 months later, it reiterated just how much the Reds wanted Keita and how highly they rated him.
With scouting reports already positive, impatient supporters spent a year salivating at highlights and compilations of the midfielder on YouTube and social media ahead of his delayed arrival. Suddenly, everyone became a Bundesliga ‘expert’ overnight as Kopites understandably hyped up their future signing more and more with each week they waited.
Klopp’s own praise of the midfielder would only inflate expectations further.
“I have contact to a lot of people in the Bundesliga, as you can imagine, and I have never had so many congratulations messages as I had after signing Naby!” the German revealed in September 2017.
“He's the player of the league, that's how it is. Last year, together with Thiago Alcantara who played an outstanding season for Bayern, he was the flyer. He's been doing this for two or three years, with different clubs in different leagues, but he's still a young boy.
“It's really good news. Okay, we have to wait but sometimes we have to wait for a really good thing. I have no problem with this. I would have preferred, of course, another situation, but it's cool!”
Keita would enjoy a fine start at Liverpool, excelling in pre-season for putting in mesmerising performances in his initial appearances. But set up to be the linchpin of the Reds midfield for years to come, he was unable to ever consistently push on.
Recurring injuries at big times haven’t helped. And while he’ll depart having won every major honour during his five-year Anfield career when he leaves on a free transfer at the end of his contract this summer, and will always have his defenders, the harsh reality is deep down we all expected more.
In truth, perhaps Keita was always set up for a fall. A year-long weight of expectations on his shoulders were only made heavier by becoming the first inheritor of club legend Steven Gerrard’s number eight shirt.
Throw in that £52.75m fee and Liverpool were expecting a game-changing world class midfielder, capable of winning matches virtually on his own in line with Gerrard’s own Anfield. But while there were glimpses from the Guinean, a player of that elite level ultimately never existed.
Now injured again after the March international break, the 28-year-old might have played his game for the Reds. If so, his final outing came over a month ago when he was withdrawn at half-time following a dismal showing in a 0-0 draw away at Crystal Palace.
Liverpool’s midfield woes this season are well-documented. When you look at the player the Reds thought they were signing from Leipzig, Keita should have been the answer. On paper, he should be at the peak of his powers and the engine-room talisman ensuring this season of transition never occurred.
Instead, he is the first player to make way as part of Liverpool’s long-anticipated midfield overhaul. While he remains a man who splits opinion in the Reds’ fanbase like no other, the fact he is departing with a whimper out the backdoor, having rarely proven to be more than an injury-cursed squad option, and leaves for nothing at the end of his contract reiterates that his Anfield career has just not worked out.
Despite the highs along the way, you expect Klopp and Liverpool bosses came to terms with the fact that he has ultimately flattered to deceive long ago. Now Reds sights are set on their next would-be midfield linchpin.
Six years on from striking that deal for Keita, Liverpool are looking to the Bundesliga again. If they are to land their desired target, it will again cost a club-record fee. Meanwhile, this would-be transfer would come at the end of months of waiting for his signature.
We are of course referring to Jude Bellingham. Still only 19, the Borussia Dortmund star will cost a club-record fee over £100m if he was to join the Reds in the summer. Of course, they aren’t the only interested parties with Man City and Real Madrid also heavily linked.
Liverpool first tried to lure the England international away from Birmingham City during his schoolboy days, while they ultimately decided against signing a new midfielder last summer in preference of waiting for the ‘right player’ in Bellingham.
If you thought the expectation on Keita’s shoulders was high, you haven’t seen anything yet. But you’d expect things would turn out differently for the Dortmund star.
For starters, onlookers have seen so much more of Bellingham in action over the past three years for both club and country. Whether shining in the Champions League for the Bundesliga outfit or on the biggest international stages for England, it has been a lot more accessible to consistently watch the teenager for 90 minutes each week.
Meanwhile, despite such speculation regarding his future, his form hasn’t faltered once. In contrast, it was widely-agreed Keita’s form in his second season for Leipzig, once his move to Liverpool was already agreed, wasn’t as impressive as his maiden campaign.
Whichever club signs Bellingham, whether it’s the Reds or someone else, they will be signing a generational talent who can be the heartbeat of their midfield for over a decade. When you look at it like that, he is potentially a ‘Gerrard replacement’ and would be filling the role that was previously envisaged for Keita.
There are similarities in both pursuits, without a doubt. And while Keita’s experience at Anfield is admittedly cause for concern at the, seemingly slim, possibility of history potentially repeating itself, Liverpool aren’t in a position to consider such a prospect at the moment.
Sky-high expectations of a player can wait. Rather, when it comes to Bellingham, their biggest current concern is whether they can actually sign the midfielder at all.
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