Ex-Liverpool star Keita transfer listed after being banished from first-team

Ex-Liverpool star Naby Keita has been brutally transfer listed after an explosive fall-out with employers Werder Bremen.

The midfielder only joined the Bundesliga side last summer at the end of his Reds’ contract. He made just five appearances across his debut campaign - just one of those being starts.

His nightmare spell in Germany then got even worse as he refused to board the team bus ahead of a clash with eventual champions Bayer Leverkusen. Instead, he decided to go home.

Bremen announced that he had been suspended and fined in the immediate aftermath. And it has now been announced that he has been put up for sale having been told to stay away from the first team for the foreseeable future.

Werder Bremen’s Managing Director of Football, Clemens Fritz, said: "It was a very open conversation in which we came to the joint conclusion that this is the most sensible way forward in the current situation. On the one hand, we want to focus fully on the rest of the preparation and the start of the season.

“On the other hand, Naby had also been thinking about it for some time. Since his sporting situation has not changed again, he would like to look for a new challenge. Together with his advisor, we want to make this happen as soon as possible.”

Fritz’s latest decision comes after his scathing assessment of Keita’s absence against Leverkusen. Speaking in April, he said: "We won't tolerate Naby's behaviour.

"He let his team down in a time of difficulty surrounding our recent run of form and squad availability and put his own interests above those of the team.

"We can't allow that. At this stage of the season, we need full focus on the remaining games and a team who stick together. That's why we've been left with no alternative."

Keita is now on the lookout for a new club and will certainly be hoping for more luck after dismal spells with both Bremen and Liverpool before that. The Reds signed him for £48m in 2017 but he did not officially join the club for another year.

Injuries largely ruined his stint on Merseyside as he made just 129 appearances over five years before he was allowed to leave for nothing. Ex-Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp remained complimentary of his talents but suggested that injuries contributed to his Reds misery.

He said: "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."