Naby Keita is one of five Liverpool players who are running out of the last months of their contract, but according to one reporter, no final predictions have been made about his future yet.
The Reds are at a crucial stage to determine their future trajectory and they need to introduce fresh legs to open up the next era for Jurgen Klopp.
The Reds currently have three midfielders out of contract at the end of the season: Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and James Milner.
On Monday, the coach said that he was “not too loyal” to his current players and that “changes” would take place to update the squad.
And many expect Keita to be one of those changes, as he will become a free agent in the summer after five years at Anfield.
However, Florian Plettenberg from Sky Germany said that this is not final, since “nothing has been decided yet at this stage” and “an extension of the contract is not ruled out.”
This confirms what GOAL’s Neil Jones reported in December that Liverpool “would still really like to keep Keita, but they would also like him to play a few games.”
The 27-year-old has been plagued by injuries at Liverpool — he has missed 19 games this season alone — but he has appeared off the bench in the last six matches, but Klopp still resisted being handed a place in the XI.
You feel that he has something to prove until May. Although it may make sense for Liverpool to keep the midfielder ahead of the expected overhaul of the position.
Paul Joyce of The Times confirmed that Jude Bellingham, worth around 130 million pounds, remains at the top of Liverpool’s list, and Mateus Nunez of Wolves is still a target for the summer.
These two players alone will require significant costs, and you can easily argue that Liverpool need more than just a couple of new faces.
Klopp insisted that he would not hesitate to make these changes, but suggested that the club’s finances and transfer policy had previously deterred Liverpool from taking the necessary steps.
“You can have a good player who has done a lot of good things in the past and then you think, ‘Maybe he’s done now,'” Klopp told reporters on Monday.
“If you can then go out and bring another player in his place, it makes sense for both sides. If you can’t bring anyone in, you can’t take anyone out, that’s the thing.”
A significant summer is on the horizon.
