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When you say: “I want to
become the best player in the world,” as Naby Keita did back in February, you
need to have something about you. Keita wasn’t afraid to state a similar
ambition just two months later to German football magazine kicker as he told of
wanting similar success in his career as Lionel Messi.
Fulfilling aspirations of
that kind is some way off in the distance, not least because the 22-year-old
has only just come through his debut campaign in the Bundesliga. Still there
was enough on show to see that Keita is an exceptional talent, with his
performances for RB Leipzig seeing him acclaimed in Germany as one of the
players of the season.
Such was his impact and
influence after a €15 million move from RB Salzburg last summer, you wonder
whether Leipzig would have qualified for the Champions League without him in
what was their first Bundesliga campaign.
How
could Liverpool line up next season?
There were many occasions
where he proved his worth but his goal against Mainz in April summed up what he
has going for him. It was one of eight he scored during the season and the
finish itself wasn’t his most spectacular of the campaign – for that you’ll
need to search out his 25-yard screamer to open the scoring at Freiburg in
November. This particular effort started a bit further back, namely in the
centre circle just inside the Mainz half. There, Keita collected the ball with
eight Mainz players ahead of him. Eight seconds later, he’d scored.
Naby
Keita wants to join Liverpool, but there's a hitch in his move
First, he’d accelerated
past five of his opponents though such is his style when he’s on the ball, it
looked like more of a glide. Upon reaching the penalty area, Keita played a
one-two with team-mate Yussuf Poulsen before hitting the ball low past Jonas
Lössl. Even Messi, the man who Keita wants to emulate in terms of success,
would have to say ‘not bad’ on viewing.
That goal along with one
against Freiburg showed Keita’s ability to score goals out of nothing, making
him in that regard the sort of player that big teams hanker for. The effort
against Mainz though better epitomised Keita’s box-to-box nature and how he is
able to engineer quick transitions for his side. That helped too when he was
looking to create chances for his team-mates as eight assists over the course
of the season suggests.
His turn of pace was also
put to good use defensively as Keita responded to coach Ralph Hasenhüttl’s call
for him to improve that side of his game back in August. His aggressive style
wasn’t to Hoffenheim coach Julian Nagelsmann’s taste after he was left irked by
Keita’s overzealousness in their defeat to Leipzig back in January but the
Guinean took that as compliment.
As for actual praise,
Hasenhüttl has been the most effusive, describing him as “an exceptionally
gifted footballer that has an unbelievable elegance on the ball.” As a person,
he is “a phenomenal guy, always sincere, always laughing, in a good mood and
positive,” in Hasenhüttl’s eyes whilst Keita’s team-mate Marvin Compper
recognises him as someone who is “ambitious yet humble.”
Naby
Keita celebrates scoring for RB Leipzig
That last description
matches the modest beginnings Keita has come from. Back in his native Guinea,
he used to have to make sure he had enough money to get to training and after
that it was a question of where his next meal was going to come from.
Keita says that the streets
are the best school when it comes to football. That was where he learnt his
trade in the Guinean capital of Conakry though it wasn’t a case of jumpers for
goalposts as he told German magazine SportBild earlier this year. The posts
used to be the tyres of parked cars and the ball was a piece of plastic.
Controlling a ball was
easy enough then for Keita as he managed to earn himself trials at Lorient and
Le Mans in France. Neither of those quite went to plan but at the age of 18,
Keita did end up leaving Guinea for the first time as he got a move to the
second tier of French football with Istres.
Credit:www.the
independent.co.uk
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