Naby Keïta's memories are inevitably tinged with regret when he looks back on his Liverpool career. Signed from RB Leipzig for a then club-record £54m after Liverpool paid a £6m premium to ward off competition from others chasing one of Europe's most in-demand players, the Guinea midfielder was handed Steven Gerrard's famous No 8 shirt when he arrived at Anfield in 2018.
But despite picking up the full set of winners' medals - from the Champions League and Club World Cup to Liverpool's first Premier League title - Keïta will always wonder what might have been after injuries restricted him to 49 league starts in five seasons.
“It was tough mentally, of course,” he says. “I was the first to get frustrated. I wanted to play every game but unfortunately I had a lot of injuries that prevented me from giving more than I did. But that's the life of a footballer. I did everything I could to be there for the team at all times, but unfortunately injuries are part of our job.”
Keïta found it hard to settle and sustained hamstring and back injuries during his first few months. He still managed to score in Liverpool's victory over Porto in the quarter-final as they went on to win the Champions League in his first season, although he had to miss the final against Tottenham owing to another injury. Yet even as Keïta's absences mounted and appearances became less frequent in the 2019-20 title-winning season and beyond, he never felt he was being criticised by the supporters.
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