Former Liverpool midfielder Naby Keita is beneath a storm at Werder Bremen, who declare the Guinean refused to journey for a sport after finding out he wouldn’t start.
Keita’s five-year hold at Anfield limped to a changing into shut, as his contract expired on the end of a season throughout which he solely carried out 13 events.
The midfielder suffered a seemingly endless assortment of accidents, ailments and completely different discomfort which restricted him to solely 129 appearances all through his full spell.
There have been renewed hopes, though, when he made a swift return to the Bundesliga with Werder Bremen, collectively together with his free swap confirmed in June.
Nevertheless the 29-year-old has now been warned he faces “penalties,” amid claims from the membership’s sporting director that he didn’t report again to the workforce bus for Sunday’s battle with Bayer Leverkusen.
Fritz zu Keita: „Nachdem Naby gestern erfahren hat, nicht von Beginn an zu spielen, hat er sich entschieden, nicht in den Bus zu steigen, sondern nach Hause zu fahren. Wir werden morgen mit ihm und seinem Berater über die Konsequenzen und das weitere Vorgehen sprechen.“#Werder pic.twitter.com/JOSsyPQF4C
— SV Werder Bremen (@werderbremen) April 14, 2024
“After Naby found yesterday that he wouldn’t be having fun with from the start, he decided to not get on the bus nevertheless to go home,” Clemens Fritz acknowledged.
“We’re going to converse to him and his agent tomorrow regarding the penalties and learn how to proceed.”
Keita, who had already missed 17 video video games for Werder Bremen on account of two accidents, three bouts of illness and representing Guinea on the Africa Cup of Nations, has solely carried out 5 events for the membership.
The suggestion that he refused to journey as he was not throughout the starting lineup is a bizarre one at face value, as his solely earlier start acquired right here in October.
He was an unused substitute in three of the sooner 5 video video games throughout the Bundesliga, in another case coming off the bench in back-to-back losses to Union Berlin and Wolfsburg.
And Keita has since taken to Instagram to refute Fritz’s allegation, insisting: “I gained’t accept anybody tarnishing [my] image.”
“As a result of the primary day I signed for this good membership, I’ve always labored selflessly and professionally,” he wrote.
“My solely want has always been to help the membership and produce pleasure to the assorted followers, significantly at a time when the outcomes aren’t as we would like them to be.
“As a result of the beginning of my occupation, wherever I’ve been, I’ve on no account had points with self-discipline and I’ve always tried to be a job model. So I gained’t accept anybody tarnishing that image.
“To the followers: I would love you to know that I fight every teaching session to make you cheerful every weekend. Teaching, giving each factor, these are the boundaries of my energy. Allez, Werder!”
All via his occupation, Keita has carried out 364 events for membership and nation, missing 156 video video games on account of hurt and illness per Transfermarkt.