Keita Called Up to Guinea Squad Despite Injury

Despite being injured, Liverpool FC midfielder Naby Keita has been called up to the Guinea squad for the upcoming friendlies against Algeria and the Ivory Coast for the international break in September that will begin after the 18th. Can’t come soon enough, if you ask me.

The mystery deepens. It was thought that his omission from the Champions League squad meant that his hamstring injury would be significant since the CL group stages will last until early November.

This has fueled speculation around corners of Reddit and Twitter that there are deeper issues between player and club because there were reports out of Germany that Keita was unhappy with his role and playing time and was seeking a move away from the club. Of course, he was quickly ruled out with an injury.

Well, there’s every chance that Keita has gotten himself Sakho’d and is indeed frozen out of the squad... but previous instances have also shown that the Guinean FA are more than happy to trot Naby out when he’s not 100%. That seems to be the case here. Per the ECHO, this is what Guinea boss Kaba Diawara had to say:

“His situation is improving and he is even ahead of schedule. We took a group of 24 players precisely to give him a chance to be able to count on him because he is a very important player for us, on and off the pitch, he is our captain.”

“We are monitoring his situation very closely. We still have a little over two weeks before our first game. Chances are we could get him back by then.”

So there’s that. Maybe we’ll see Keita back on the pitch in Guinean colours soon.