Naby Keita forced to train alone as club confirm plans to sell after 1 year

German club Werder Bremen have effectively put Naby Keita up for sale, just a year after his arrival from Liverpool.

During the five years Keita spent at Liverpool he was always an enigma. The former Reds’ no.8 arrived with hope and excitement but never managed to fulfil the hype.

There were moments and flashes but never anything consistent enough to warrant a regular place in Jurgen Klopp‘s starting XI. Injuries also wreaked havoc on his body with Keita spending plenty of time on the treatment table.

When he left Liverpool last summer to join Werder Bremen on a free transfer there were hopes that the Guinean would overturn his fortunes.

But the 29-year-old has done anything but, enduring an equally frustrating spell at the Bundesliga side and making just one league start and playing merely five Games for the entirety of last season.

“Naby Keita will not return to first-team training”

Recently Keita has been comPeting at the Olympics with Guinea but his team were eliminated from the group stages of the comPetition. Upon his elimination from the tournament Keita has returned to pre-season training at Werder Bremen.

However, he has been shunned by the club’s first team with a rather brutal statement saying that Keita would train separately from the rest of the squad.

?? Naby Keïta will not return to first-team training, and will instead continue to train individually as he searches for a new opportunity elsewhere. #werder pic.twitter.com/DS4prAe4Fy

— SV Werder Bremen EN (@werderbremen_en) August 8, 2024

“Naby Keita will not return to first-team training, and will instead continue to train individually as he searches for a new opportunity elsewhere,” it reads.

In a further update on their website, their director of football explained:

“It was a very open discussion, through which we arrived at a shared decision that we saw best for the situation. Firstly, we wanted to keep full concentration on the rest of our pre-season and the start of the new campaign, and, secondly, Naby had been thinking this way for some time.

“Since his situation within the team has not changed, he would like to look for a new challenge. Together with his agent, we want to sort this all out as soon as possible.”

This more than suggests that Bremen are looking for a sale of the midfielder just 12 months after signing him on a free transfer following his contract expiring at Liverpool.

What the future holds remains to be seen. Keita is going to be turning 30 next season and he has started just four league games in the last two seasons.

With that kind of injury track record it is moot just how much interest there would be in the midfielder.