The world’s worst restart: Naby Keïta’s disastrous one-year spell at Werder Bremen

With Naby Keita set for a familiar spell on the sidelines, here’s a recap of the events surrounding one of the Bundesliga’s worst ever signings.

Photo: Werner100359/CC BY-SA 4.0

A truly catastrophic spell in Bremen had looked set to come to an end for former Liverpool star Naby Keïta, as reports emerged over the weekend of Werder Bremen having struck up a potential loan deal for the player with Turkish side Hatayspor. 

However, the deal broke down,with reports suggesting that Keïta himself rejected the deal and refused the move. This is just another disaster in a long line of setbacks and problems that have plagued Keïta’s return to Germany. 

What was once the promise of a fresh start has now become a living nightmare. With the Guinean international now set to be frozen out of football until at least January, it seems fitting to look back over his time at Werder Bremen and realise just how terrible this transfer has turned out to be.

Summer hype

It was announced on 9th June 2023 that Naby Keïta would be joining Werder Bremen after the expiry of his contract with Liverpool. Although he had been largely underwhelming and injury-stricken during his time at the club, this news sent shockwaves through German football. 

Most fans recalled his impressive spell at RB Leipzig and agreed that, if he could stay fit, this could prove to be a shrewd piece of business. For reference, in 52 starts for Leipzig, Keïta registered 14 goals and 12 assists from centre midfield. These were exciting numbers that, if replicated, would have had fans in raptures. However, his move turned out to be more of a nightmare than a dream.

Keïta was given a 3-year deal worth €47,500 a week, making him the highest paid player at the club, equal with Leonardo Bittencourt and former first-choice goalkeeper Jiří Pavlenka. Having been handed such a lucrative contract, Keïta was expected to start the season strongly. Yet, while warming up for a friendly against VfB Oldenburg, Keïta suffered an adductor injury, which would keep him out from 16th July until 23rd September. This was merely a sign of things to come.
 

Attitude and injuries

While starting the season injured, multiple German news outlets also reported that Keïta had an attitude problem. He allegedly refused to attend sponsorship events to represent Werder and arrived late to team meetings on several occasions.

This led to question marks over the player’s character from manager Ole Werner and thus, when he returned from injury in September, the coach seemed reluctant to feature him. Keïta made his debut in a 2-1 win against Köln, and his first start came on 7th October in a 2-3 home defeat against TSG Hoffenheim. However, having just returned from his adductor issue, Keïta picked up a muscle problem around the hour mark and was substituted, visibly downcast.

This second injury, coupled with his departure to the Africa Cup of Nations in January, meant that Keïta’s next appearance for the club would not come until 16th March 2024. In total, Keïta spent 118 days of the 2023/24 season unavailable due to injury, illness or suspension, which was catastrophic seeing as he had become the club’s highest earner merely a year prior.

Minutes comparison

Due to the aforementioned reasons, Keïta only featured five times in total for Werder Bremen during 23/24. Miraculously, his struggles to get on the pitch seemed to disappear when he departed for AFCON. Keïta managed four appearances at the tournament and actually played more minutes for Guinea than he did for Werder during the entire Bundesliga season.

The following numbers demonstrate the minutes per match comparison:

Simple statistics such as this only further emphasise the catastrophe that was Keïta’s time in Bremen. Moreover, despite barely managing the length of one full match throughout the Bundesliga season and amassing zero goal contributions, he still received two yellow cards. This really epitomises the lack of quality he displayed throughout his stint at the Weserstadion.
 

The final straw

Regardless of Keïta’s fitness woes, the true end to his Werder career came in April. Ahead of Werder’s game against Bayer Leverkusen, Keïta refused to board the team bus after being told he wouldn’t be part of the starting lineup, and instead drove home. He was publicly slammed for this decision by Werder’s sporting director, Clemens Fritz, and was subsequently suspended from the squad until the end of the season. 

“As a club, 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," said Fritz.

"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."

He also received a fine that was reported to be over €100,000. Furthermore, Keïta did himself no favours when he tried to refute claims that he refused to board the team bus on social media, as it was evident to the fanbase that he lacked discipline.

Come the end of the season, the decision was made that Keïta would never feature again for the club, and that he would not be registered for the upcoming 2024/25 Bundesliga season. He has since been placed on an individual training regime and been informed that he must find a new club. It is a sad end to a transfer that appeared to have so much potential.

Going forward

Since the Guinean international was signed on a 3-year contract, Werder must honour his wages and thus are desperate to offload the player. For a player of his former calibre, Keïta’s difficulty finding a new club truly signifies the extent of his downfall in recent years. 

Having rejected a move to Hatayspor, it now seems almost guaranteed that Keïta will not play a game of professional football until at least January. He is still only 29 years old, so, provided he can regain fitness, he should be able to continue playing for at least a few more years. 

However, there can be no doubt that Keïta’s transfer to Werder Bremen was a complete failure. It is quite difficult for a free transfer to be a league’s worst of the season, but you could certainly argue this was the case with Keïta. Hopefully, he can find a move elsewhere and the unhappy relationship between himself and the club can finally be put to rest.