Fans reveal Keita is Liverpool's biggest disappointment of the season so far

Reds fans voting in our survey have been underwhelmed by the midfielder so far but aren't giving up on him just yet

Liverpool fans had to wait a year to see Naby Keita pull on a Reds shirt for the first time with the Guinean's move from RB Leipzig agreed 12 months before his move to Anfield.

A long-term Jurgen Klopp target, supporters were inevitably excited to see the midfielder in action on Merseyside and had a year to prepare themselves for his arrival by tracking his progress in his final season in the Bundesliga.

After landing Keita's signature, Klopp excitedly revealed: "I have contact to a lot of people in the Bundesliga, as you can imagine, and I have never had so many congratulations messages as I had after signing Naby!

“He's the player of the league, that's how it is. Last year, together with Thiago Alcantara who played an outstanding season for Bayern, he was the flier. He's been doing this for two or three years, with different clubs in different leagues, but he's still a young boy.

“It's really good news. OK, we have to wait but sometimes we have to wait for a really good thing. I have no problem with this. I would have preferred, of course, another situation, but it's cool!”

After shining in his first season in Germany, Keita still delivered nine goals and eights assist last season despite having one eye on his future move to Anfield last year.

Yet despite impressing in pre-season and during the open weeks of the 2018/19, a mixture of injury, the form of others and a chance of formation have seen him start just nine of the Reds' 23 Premier League appearances.

With his recent outings seeing him shoe-horned in a left-midfield role, limited to substitute appearances or unused altogether, Liverpool are yet to see the best from their £52.75milllion signing with last weekend's assist for Roberto Firmino's strike against Crystal Palace his first direct involvement in a goal since joining the club.

Signing of the season

And while it is far too early to write Keita off at Anfield, the immediate success of fellow summer signings Alisson and Xherdan Shaqiri, as well as the strong emergence of Fabinho over the winter months, have emphasised his struggles further.

Unsurprisingly it has not gone unnoticed by supporters who are yet to see their hopes and expectations of the midfielder fufilled.

In the ECHO's recent mid-season survey, unsurprisingly less than 1% of fans backed Keita as Liverpool's signing of the summer with him trailing the aforementioned trio by a hefty distance.

And it gets even worse for the 23-year-old after 62.51% of fans voted him as the club's biggest disappointment of the season so far.

Claiming over twice as many votes as second-placed Alberto Moreno (27.69%), the likes of Jordan Henderson, Joel Matip, Daniel Sturridge, Dejan Lovren and Adam Lallana also gained votes but none sparked as much concern as Keita.

Biggest disappointment

Replying to our survey, one fan said: "Apart from debut against West Ham, has been poor. No goals and hardly any assists. Disappointing."

"After hearing about his performances before we signed him, he sounded like he would be a great signing but most likely due to injuries and minimal game time he doesn't look like he's settled in midfield," added another.

However, despite his underwhelming start, fans are still confident Keita will come good for Liverpool even if they have to wait until next season.

"It's not that I'm disappointed but I felt he would've slotted in better by now. Can't wait to see him play consistently to his potential," one said.

"I was expecting big things from Keita," said another. "Injuries and no sustained run in the team has not helped. Still confident he will come good, perhaps not fully until next season."

Another added: "I expected big big things from Naby Keita but it hasn't come off for him yet BUT I still believe he'll be a big player for us later this season or next season."

With 15 games left in the Premier League season there is still time for the midfielder to turn his campaign around.

And with the Reds four points clear at the top of the Premier League table as they look to end their 29-year wait for a league title, as well as through to the Champions League knockout stages, there's no reason to believe Keita won't be able to still have a big impact on what could prove to be an historic season for Liverpool Football Club.