Liverpool journalist Paul Machin has made a claim on Reds midfielder Naby Keita.
This comes after Machin recently hosted an episode of Redmen TV on YouTube to share his immediate reaction to Liverpool’s 3-1 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion in midweek.
On the topic of Keita, Machin shared his thoughts on the midfielder after his latest performance for Jurgen Klopp’s side.
He said: “I think he plays the midfield the way that [Philippe] Coutinho wanted to play in midfield. I don’t think he’s the same player as Coutinho, but he’s got that very close control, he’s nippy over a couple of yards, but he’s not necessarily massively explosive.
“When people talk about that we never replaced Coutinho, we did with Keita – but people think Coutinho was the lad who used to bend balls into the top corner every now and again and forget how horrendously frustrating that was as a footballer.
“Keita quietly has a really good goal return for the amount of minutes that he plays on the pitch for us. And he is that guy who, you just boot the ball to in really tight spaces and he’s happy to just maintain possession – as you say, he’ll glide past a man, open up a new range of options for him, stop-start. He’s got a surprising amount of vision on him. I think that’s a sharpness that will come I think if we ever get 10 games back-to-back out of Keita. I think he’ll start to be that unlocker of defences with his passes as well.”
Keita’s performance in the win against Brighton earned him a match rating of 7.9/10, making him Liverpool’s second-highest-rated player in the game as he assisted the Reds’ first goal of the evening (per WhoScored).
Did Naby Keita have his best performance for Liverpool against Brighton?
Yes
No
Despite only making 14 Premier League appearances for Liverpool so far this season, Keita, who is currently valued at £30.15 million according to Transfermarkt, has fared quite well, earning himself a season rating of 6.95/10 for his performances in this campaign.
TIF Thoughts…
It’s great to hear this positivity from Machin on Keita and the belief he has in the midfielder to become even better for Liverpool in the future.
With injuries having disrupted Keita’s time at Liverpool, it’s good to see him performing well in the Premier League for the club.