Five writers choose who will be Liverpool Player of the Year in 2018/19

Naby Keita – Chris Martin

Twitter – @chrisamartin1

I’m going to avoid the few obvious answers here by not naming somebody from the front three, but that doesn’t mean I don’t believe the front three won’t have excellent campaigns.

The exciting prospect in my opinion is that in Naby Keita I think we could have solved a vital piece of the jigsaw.

One major area for improvement from last season is turning draws into wins, particularly at Anfield. In Keita, Liverpool appear to have themselves a player that can break lines and link play. He’s also a tireless midfielder prepared to get stuck in to tackles as well.

In addition to what we all hoped the Reds had signed after watching RB Leipzig clips and reading reports, one pleasing development has been the early partnerships he has formed on the pitch in friendlies.

Keita has had limited game time due to minor niggles so far, but it seems clear that he is going to relish the opportunity of playing with other elite players.

It’s highly unlikely that Keita will lead the goal or assist charts, but I think he’ll be pivotal to the way we play. If we manage to keep the Guinean injury free, I think he could find himself in the Premier League Team of the Season.

Let’s also not forget, Keita performing well this season carries the additional bonus of making Leon Osman look rather silly.