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Report: Liverpool player’s wages will stop him re-joining former club; future uncertain

(BILD ZEITUNG OUT) head coach Juergen Klopp of Liverpool FC looks on after the UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg match between Liverpool...
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Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool are top of the Premier League but Naby Keita has barely had a look in – could he return to Bundesliga giants RB Leipzig?

Naby Keita of Liverpool celebrates the only goal of the match with goalscorer Sadio Mane during the Premier League match between Norwich City and Liverpool FC at Carrow Road on February 15,...

A potential return to RB Leipzig is all but impossible for Liverpool’s Naby Keita, according to BILD, with the midfielder facing an uncertain future at Anfield.

It is fair to say the Reds were made to wait for their £52 million man, agreeing an eye-watering deal around 12 months before the Guinea international finally arrived on the red half of Merseyside.

But has Keita been worth the wait? Possibly not.

A series of niggling injury problems have turned his Liverpool dream into a nightmare at times, with the 25-year-old slipping well down the pecking order under Jurgen Klopp, behind the likes of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, James Milner and Gini Wijnaldum.

Keita has only started four Premier League games all season so when, or if, Liverpool lift their first top-flight crown for 30 years the sweetness of success will have a rather bitter aftertaste.

But, if the former Salzburg starlet had any plans to get his ailing career back on track at Leipzig again – amid speculation that his ill-fated Liverpool spell could be coming to an end – he looks set to be disappointed.

Naby Keita (L) and Sadio Mane of Liverpool (R) poses for photos with his trophy during the FIFA Club World Cup Final match between Liverpool FC and CR Flamengo at Khalifa International...

BILD reports that 25-year-old Keita is now possibly too old, believe it or not, for a club who tend to sign players right at the start of their careers when their re-sale value is at its highest.

Furthermore, Keita’s £10 million-a-year salary is well beyond the financial means of even a nouveau-riche outfit whose rapid rise in German football has seen them dubbed ‘the most hated club’ in the game today.

Whatever happens in the life of Naby Keita this summer, it seems that an emotional homecoming is off the cards.

(THE SUN OUT, THE SUN ON SUNDAY OUT) Naby Keita of Liverpool with Pablo Fornals of West Ham United during the Premier League match between Liverpool FC and West Ham United at Anfield on...