It's fair to say that Naby Keita has made a promising start to his career at Anfield. The 22-year-old has given Liverpool a spark in midfield that was sometimes missing last season, with the former RB Leipzig man equally adept at sitting deep as breaking the lines with his dribbling and passing.
Jurgen Klopp has been pleased with his how Keita has taken to the English game, though the German admitted on Monday Night Football recently that he is still settling in on Merseyside:
He’s very shy and not very extroverted but on the pitch you don’t see it. He needs to settle a little bit. He’s next to Sadio all the time.
Everybody loves Naby but I don’t know if he loves us because he doesn’t speak a lot. But football-wise you can see the potential is outstanding but we have to give him time.
Defensively he’s very stable in his challenges. Tactically he can improve, and he must improve, but what else I don’t know.
During the international break Keita sat down with the club's official website to field such incendiary questions as whether he kept the ketchup in the fridge or the cupboard (it depends), and how good Jurgen's Klopp's hugs are (they're good).
Keita was asked one interesting question however; who is the toughest opponent he has ever encountered. His answer will delight Liverpool fans:
When I used to play against Bayern, Xabi Alonso always used to give me a really hard time. He was so experienced, he made me suffer. The way he’d keep switching play just meant that you could never stop running. He was very intelligent.
Alonso was part of the Liverpool team that won the Champions League in 2005, and is remembered fondly by Reds fans. The midfielder left the club in 2009 and has always spoken warmly of his time at Anfield.
