Naby Keita Klopp
Image Credits: Getty images
Ferencvaros’ sporting director, Tamas Hajnal, has revealed the role Jurgen Klopp played in helping Naby Keita secure a move to the club.
The former Liverpool midfielder ended his nightmare stay away from first-team action early this week after securing a loan move to Hungarian top-flight side Ferencvaros.
Keita left Liverpool at the end of the 2022/23 season after seeing off his contract. He was seen as a massive coup when Liverpool signed him in 2018 and was even given the iconic NO. 8 shirt famously won by Steven Gerrard.
However, a lack of form and a series of injuries limited Keita’s impact in Anfield, and he moved to Werder Bremen after making just 129 appearances in five seasons at Anfield.
Keita joined the German club on a free transfer with hopes of revitalizing his career.
However, his issues did not stop there, with disciplinary concerns adding to his injury problems.
The situation with Werder Bremen reached its breaking point in April 2024 when Keita refused to board the team bus after learning he wouldn’t be in the starting lineup in a Bundesliga clash against Bayer Leverkusen.
This led to him being frozen out of the team and subsequently put up for sale despite having two years still remaining on his deal at the club.
After several months on the sidelines, the 29-year-old has now found a new home and part of that is down to glowing remarks by his former boss, Klopp.
The role Klopp play in Naby Keita latest move
According to Ferencvaros’ sporting director, Tamas Hajnal, he sought out Klopp’s thoughts n the player before making the move to sign Keita.
The former Hungarian international played under Klopp at Borussia Dortmund and has maintained a strong relationship with the German.
“I spoke to Jürgen Klopp about it and he was actually incredibly positive,” Hajnal said to Fradi TV.
“He said in German that he was a “weltklasse spieler”, meaning a “world-class player”. He spoke very positively about him, that when his health allowed it, he was always a key player for him.
“He didn’t say anything about his personality that would actually be a problem. So that also confirmed for us that it was worth continuing to look into it and going even deeper.
“Expectations should not be set too high at first. We have taken care of this in the contractual structure. We are taking relatively few risks with this, so we think that the positive impact we can achieve with this can be really huge if everyone can get the most out of it together.”
Keita and Klopp enjoyed a special relationship during the pair’s time at Liverpool.
After Klopp announced his departure from Liverpool, Keita revealed that he was in tears when he heard the news.
“When I heard the news, I had tears in my eyes. I was like his son in Liverpool, and I consider him my dad,” Keita revealed.
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