This was undoubtedly Naby's best season for the club, which is damning with feint praise as it's not exactly a high bar he had to jump over. His improved consistency this year was surely not unrelated to the fact it was also the best year he had for avoiding injury, although he still had a couple of brief spells on the sidelines.
He started the season well and scored cracking volleys against Palace and Atletico, before finding the net in a terrific individual and team performance at Old Trafford. That might be the best game he’s played for us. He got injured in the next game though and missed a month, which has been the story of his time here really.
That early season promise sort of fizzled out and wasn’t helped by him heading off to AFCON and then picking up an injury when he got back. On his return he picked things up nicely again and was selected by Klopp for some very big games, usually at the expense of Henderson. He was excellent in the Wembley win over City and scored the only goal in a vital win at Newcastle. Lovely finish it was too.
He’s been quite good this year but he still almost always leaves me wanting more, which is a result of the high expectation I had when he came here. i still haven't seen the player I thought we were getting and I'm resigned to the fact we never will. He doesn't exist, except on youtube clips from his time at Leipzig.
He’s clearly very talented and a lot of the good work he does isn’t always obvious (he’s really good at pressuring and nicking the ball off opponents high up the pitch for example), but for me there’s still a significant gap between him and the three regular starters. Klopp seemingly doesn’t see it that way as he’s picked him ahead of Henderson occasionally, but we've got three midfielders who are a level above the others and Keita isn't one of those three, even though he was supposed to be.
I don't think that's unfair. The lad cost £50m and had a massive reputation prior to coming here. Even his biggest supporters must surely agree that he hasn’t lived up to that, although he’s not been a flop either. Naby divides opinion like no-one else in the squad. His fanboys constantly overstate his contributions, while his detractors often understate them. The truth lies somewhere in between, hence the seven out of ten rating.
Previous Season Ratings:
2020/21: Season doesn’t count
2019/20: 7/10
2018/19: 6/10
This Season’s Rating: 7/10
Overall he was decent this year.
Best Moment:
Scoring the opener at Old Trafford. His entire performance that day was excellent until he was taken out by a potential leg breaker from Pogba.
Worst Moment:
That fucking shot in Paris.
The Future?
He’ll probably get a new contract. I hope not, personally I’d sell him and get an upgrade but I don’t see that happening and this time next year I'll be writing exactly the same thing after another 7 out of 10 season in which he showed flashes but ultimately just left me unfulfilled.
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