Liverpool injury news: Naby Keita will have five months league absence
By David Gate
Liverpool midfielder Naby Keita will have missed five months from Premier League duty as Jurgen Klopp confirms his injury return timeline.
On April 26th this year, Liverpool needed to beat Huddersfield Town to keep the pressure on Man City for the title race. The Reds took the lead after 15 seconds as Naby Keita scored the fastest Liverpool goal in league history. They won 5-0.
That was the last time Naby Keita played for Liverpool in the league and the latest injury diagnosis from Jurgen Klopp confirms it will be a full five months out of league action for the Guinean.
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The Liverpool ECHO are reporting today that Keita will be out until “the end of September at the earliest”.
They quote Klopp from last week saying: “Long term does not mean six months, it means a couple of weeks. There is no real news, he’s close, but not close enough.”
The end of September suggests the League Cup fixture against MK Dons on Wednesday 25th could be a run out for Keita. If all goes well then, he could feature away against Sheffield United on September 28th.
That will be a five month league absence, longer than originally anticipated – though he was injured on May 1st in the Champions League and came off the bench against Man City in the Community Shield on August 4th.
The decision to play in the African Cup of Nations for Guinea looks very foolish in hindsight and what should have been a six-week absence has stretched out to a huge chunk of 2019.
That is particularly frustrating for Kopites who were just beginning to see Naby Keita settle into the squad and system. His dynamic running and movement is much missed from a midfield that can look flat on occasion.
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Hopefully we will see a fully rested and injury free Keita before the end of this month.