Jurgen Klopp made it clear that Naby Keita left Liverpool due to injuries and not because of his attitude, with the Werder Bremen midfielder now suspended for the rest of the season.
Keita, 29, left the Reds last summer on a free transfer after five years with the club following his £52.75million move from RB Leipzig. During his time at Anfield, he won the Champions League and Premier League but injuries hampered his progress and limited him to just 129 appearances.
When his departure was confirmed in May 2023, Klopp sent a heartwarming tribute to Keita, who featured just 13 times in his final season on Merseyside. He told Liverpoolfc.com: "Naby is an exceptional footballer, what a player he is. Maybe one or two injuries too many just hindered him from getting really through.
"But if you go through – and I would really recommend that – if you go through our really big games of Liverpool FC you might be surprised how often Naby was in the starting line-up and how often he played incredibly well.
"It was a bit of a shame, when it was really going well then a little injury here, a little muscle thing there. That was not too cool and that is probably what people might remember as well, but in his moment he is world-class, without a shadow of a doubt. And I wish him the best of luck because he as well won absolutely everything here at Liverpool, which not a lot of people can say."
It has been almost a year since leaving Liverpool and Keita is enduring a nightmare season back in Germany with Werder. He has played just five times for the club, and refused to travel with the squad for their trip to Bayer Leverkusen over the weekend after being told he wasn't in the team.
Upon being informed that he was not in the side to face Leverkusen, Keita did not board the team bus and instead went home. Werder have now taken action against him and suspended him from the club for the rest of the season.
The club said in a statement: "Werder Bremen officials have suspended Naby Keita until the end of the season. In addition, the Green-Whites have imposed a significant fine on the midfielder. From now on, the 29-year-old will neither train with the team nor spend time in the professional dressing room.
"Naby's behaviour cannot be tolerated for us as a club. With this action, he let his team down in a tense sporting and personnel situation and placed himself above the team. We can't allow that. At this stage of the season we need full focus on the remaining games and a team that is very close together."
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