Naby Keita’s move from Liverpool to Werder Bremen has been an absolute disaster. His transfer from RB Leipzig to Anfield didn’t work out as well as many had expected, and indeed hoped, but the Bundesliga return has reached whole new levels of awful.
That came to a head in April, when Werder Bremen say that upon learning he would not be in the starting line-up against Bayer Leverkusen, he refused to get on the team coach and instead went home.
He was fined and hasn’t played for the club since. Werder Bremen wanted to part ways with him in the summer and they’d do so for free, having got him as a free agent following his Liverpool expiration anyway, but Keita and his agents didn’t find a new home.
The 29-year-old has a contract with Werder Bremen lasting until 2026 and doesn’t appear to be ready to walk away from that, despite training with the club’s U23s. He’s likely on a relatively high salary following his Liverpool spell, and finding a club to match that may be difficult.
Somewhat bemused, their coach Ole Werner has hit back, insisting there’s been nothing improper in the way the player has been treated.
Kicker quote him as saying: “I do believe that we have been very, very humane and very, very transparent with him at all times since he joined us.
“Keita is not our issue right now, and I believe that it’s best for both sides to simply look ahead and into the future, to see what good solutions Naby can find for himself and what solutions we can find without him.”
Regarding the coach incident ahead of the match against Bayer Leverkusen, Keita told The Guardian that he’d apologised, something Werner has questioned: “It could be that it somehow happened in the meantime, it just wouldn’t have reached me.”
