English Premier League
Liverpool told what to do to keep pace with Chelsea amid Naby Keita injury worries
Liverpool told what to do to keep pace with Chelsea amid Naby Keita injury worries.
Former Liverpool striker Stan feels Liverpool needs to sign a midfielder in the January transfer window amid Naby Keita’s growing injury concern.
The Guinea international limped out of Liverpool’s 2-2 draw with Brighton on Saturday halfway into the first half with a hamstring injury.
Keita joins Jurgen Klopp’s long injury list with the likes of Fabinho, Thiago Alcantara, James Milner, and Harvey Elliott. This means Jurgen Klopp is short of midfielders ahead of a busy festive schedule.
The Reds could address this issue in the January transfer window and Collymore believes Keita’s injury concerns need acting on if they want to avoid falling further behind league leaders Chelsea.
‘Naby, I’m worried, I’ve got to be honest,’ former Reds striker Collymore told Empire of the Kop.
‘On Empire of the Kop this season, there’s nobody that’s batted for him more than me but the questions I keep getting back from people when I see the videos posted on social media are: “Stan, we have to wrap him in cotton wool”, “Stan, he’s like glass”, “Stan, he doesn’t play the requisite amount of games because of injury” and he’s injured again.
‘The central hub of Liverpool’s midfield now needs every one of the technical staff, every one of the recruitment staff, to look at it and say: “Is there an argument that we need to bring somebody in, in midfield?”
‘I believe the answer to the argument is yes. Don’t now let this three-point gap to Chelsea become six or nine because you haven’t addressed those issues.’
Klopp revealed after the draw against Brighton, that Kieta will not be available for Liverpool’s Champions League game against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night.
‘He told me, he showed me [the] hamstring,’ Klopp said.
‘So, I don’t know, we will see; obviously tomorrow [or] the day after tomorrow he will have a scan and then we will know,” the manager told Liverpoolfc.com post-match.
‘But if somebody feels the hamstring, it would be the first time that he is ready for the next game. So, I can’t see that.’
