Naby Keita mastered a Liverpool training drill on his fifth day to convince Jurgen Klopp and the club’s coaches he’s something special, according to the Evening Standard.
The newspaper claim the Merseyside giants’ backroom and recruitment teams felt vindicated in their lengthy pursuit of the midfielder, 23, when he was introduced to a four-sided training game in a pre-season session in early July.
The Standard report the exercises have been a feature since Klopp’s arrival in 2015 and involves “players tightly packed into a square pitch and needing to complete six passes before scoring in one of four nets, with the emphasis on close control, passing under pressure and winning the ball back as quickly as possible.”
Keita, it is said, soon possessed he possessed each of those skills in abundance to delight teammates and coaching staff alike.
OPINION
This is brilliant insight into Keita and how the coaching staff view him, and also why Klopp did not gush in his praise of the player in the immediate wake of his sensational debut Premier League performance. Used in a number eight driving midfield role, the Guinea international was so good that he has already been touted by pundits as an early player of the year candidate. That might be a bit premature, but gives an idea of the calibre of the £52million summer signing from RB Leipzig in a deal originally agreed by Liverpool 12 months ago. Huge credit to the club’s scouting and recruitment team, both in their judgement of a rare talent and in negotiating a deal that the Bundesliga club were hugely reluctant to do under any circumstances. Keita has immediately made an already strong team even better, and that is no mean feat.