- Liverpool let Naby Keita leave for Werder Bremen for free in 2013
- Keita has only played five Bundesliga games and is considered a flop in Germany
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Naby Keita is set to restart his football career with Ferencvaros in Hungary after his free transfer from Liverpool to Werder Bremen went spectacularly wrong.
Keita, still just 29, left Anfield in the summer of 2023 after five years in the Premier League, seeking regular football after injuries limited him to 49 league starts.
But his downfall in Bremen was spectacular. He was named as the Bundesliga’s biggest flop and played just five games in the German top flight. In April, he was suspended for the season and fined after being accused of failing to show up on the team bus for an away game.
Since then, he has only made one league start and Bremen have also chosen not to use him this season.
Coach Ole Herner recently said: “I believe it is best for both parties to just look ahead and into the future, to see what good solutions Naby can find for himself and what solutions we can find without him.”
Now it appears that the two parties will part ways in January. BILD report that Keita will be sent on loan – unusually for 12 months as the transfer takes place in January – which will see him in Bremen within six months of the end of his contract.
Former Liverpool star Naby Keita now faces a restart of his career with Ferencvaros on loan
The 29-year-old Keita has had a disastrous time at Werder Bremen since his transfer last year.
Hungarian champions Ferencvaros are the mentioned destination, where Keita could even face old rivals Manchester United in the Europa League this season.
In October, Keita told The Guardian: ‘In my last year at Liverpool I didn’t play much and when I got here I was motivated.
“We will have to talk about the bus incident at some point, but anyone who knows me knows that I am a professional and that I am not undisciplined. Despite everything, I apologized to the group even before the end of last season, because we are all human and no one is perfect.
‘Wherever I have been, from Salzburg to Leipzig and Liverpool, I have always tried to be exemplary.’
Keita was accused of refusing to board the team bus and instead returning home when he found out he was not in the starting line-up for a match against Bayer Leverkusen.
Keita was immediately suspended and forced to train with the U23s for his actions, as Bremen sporting director Clemens Fritz insisted the club would not tolerate his behavior.
Keita was all smiles when he signed for Werder Bremen, but the move quickly turned sour
“We will not tolerate Naby’s behavior,” Fritz said in a statement at the time.
The player has since apologized to his teammates on WhatsApp.
Jurgen Klopp paid £52 million to sign Keita from RB Leipzig after building a reputation as one of the best midfielders in the German top flight.
However, despite winning a host of trophies at Liverpool, his time on Merseyside was blighted by multiple injuries and he was limited to just eight Premier League appearances in his final season at the club.