Former Premier League striker Noel Whelan has been reacting to the news that Liverpool are in contract talks with Naby Keita.
Signed for a then club-record £48m from RB Leipzig in July 2017 (BBC), the Guinea midfielder arrived on Merseyside 12 months later after a spell in the Bundesliga.
However, owing predominately to injury woes, the 27-year-old has had a mixed spell of peaks at troughs with the Reds, whilst making 116 appearances for the club.
Fast approaching the final year of his contract at Anfield (Transfermarkt), FSG are reportedly in talks to offer the Guinean a new deal, and one intrigued onlooker has had his say on that development…
Speaking to Football Insider, former Leeds striker Whelan has claimed that Keita’s sporadic levels of performance must come to an end after signing fresh terms with Liverpool.
The one-time BBC Radio host said: “We all expected a lot more from Keita. He’s been hit-and-miss. We’ve seen some spectacular performances, but also some average performances.
“He needs to work on his consistency and being a lot more involved in that midfield area. He’s got to command that area like Thiago does and like Wijnaldum did. Klopp obviously believes there is a player there and that he is capable of improving, or he wouldn’t be offering him a new contract.
“His aim in the next season has got to be to find that consistency in his game.”
Unfortunately for Keita, the 48-cap Guinea captain has struggled to maintain his standards for prolonged spells since joining Liverpool, although fitness and injury issues have often curtailed any progress.
Moreover, the dynamic midfielder has often gone from the sublime to the ridiculous, having won consecutive Man of the Match awards in December 2019 but also being
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