What if: Ox and Keita’s Liverpool Careers

AN ARTICLE BY MATTY

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Am I really doing this? Okay then, here we go. Before I begin, I’ll warn that this is gonna be painful regardless of how you feel about these two. If you’re still supportive of them, it’s gonna hurt hearing me talk about what could’ve been. If you want them gone, it’s gonna hurt when I tell you why they’re still here. But these two have always fascinated me. Both cost a good deal of money, both were expected to bring this midfield to a new level, and for brief periods, both of them flashed their potential. Ox with his long dribbling runs leading to either thunderbolts or slick assists, Keita quietly being the setup man for most of Liverpool’s actions, even last season Keita showed flashes of dominance, probably more consistent dominance than we’ve seen from him previously. But even then, he still didn’t look like the finished article we expected.

You all know my pet peeve with this midfield: creative activity. Harvey Elliott is a doing a wonderful job to soothe this perceived need, but I’ve yearned for a midfield that comes anywhere close to Silva and De Bruyne in how they link up the play. Ox and Keita were Klopp’s bet on creating a midfield somewhat similar to that. He may have lost that bet, but I’d argue it wasn’t his fault. He couldn’t have foreseen a horrific knee injury basically halting Ox’s progress permanently. He couldn’t have foreseen Keita not being the seamless fit everybody imagined he would be. Remember, Keita had a near-flawless injury record before coming to Merseyside. You’re left longing at what could have been.

And, in my humble opinion, I think these two becoming the players Klopp envisioned could’ve given us that last push needed to win us a quadruple last season, or to win the league in 2018/19. Both times we lost by the smallest of margins with not much impact from either of them. Imagine if Ox weren’t injured against Roma. He plays the 2018/19 season fully comfortable in Klopp’s system, and probably racks up 10 goals and 10 assists. He looks like yet another coup by Klopp, a budding star finally delivering on the promise he showed at Arsenal. Last season, this version of Ox provides brilliant depth and starts about half the games, still providing thrust and goals from midfield that we wanted at times last season. I can see him scoring against Tottenham to turn a draw into a win. A win that would seal us yet another league title, a third under Klopp in this alternate universe. He’s viewed as a legend and an example of Liverpool’s ridiculous depth last season.

Now for Naby, who’s not quite as dynamic a player as the Ox could’ve been but is still someone who should’ve given us control. A true all-rounder, we’ll throw his first league season out the window as that likely would’ve been the same regardless. But 2019/20, Keita begins to shine. Rising like Ilkay Gundogan did at City, Keita splits defenses regularly with his passing, makes late runs into the box for easy goals, and presses like a mad man. Not quite a starter yet, but Keita proves himself a brilliant fit in the system and yet another arrow in Klopp’s quiver. Then last season, he establishes himself as a starter with Gini gone and the midfield of a fully healthy Keita, Thiago and Fabinho go on to wreak havoc throughout the league. He comes up clutch with a pass for a Sadio Mane equalizer in the CL final, before Bobby Firmino scores off a corner to secure another Champions League title and completing an unprecedented quadruple. The team goes down in history as legends forever.

Now comes the second part of the article, which brings us back to reality where we address why they are still here despite coming nowhere close to their potential. The problem with players that had such massive potential like these two is that every time they come back from a setback, they tease you into thinking they’ll finally fulfill that potential. Imagine our midfield depth for a second if they’re healthy and playing like they could have. Then we’re absolutely spoiled for choice with who to start. In fact, in the squad planning made for this year’s team, I’d bet Klopp envisioned exactly that when he bought these two. But it hasn’t happened that way at all.

Their wages make another problem in that we can’t really get rid of these two. Both make over £100k per week, which isn’t that much compared to some of the stars in the squad but definitely isn’t cheap either. Once again, they were paid relative to what was expected of them in their time here. And they were expected to add attacking quality to the midfield and win even more games than what we have done. So instead they are like anchors, weighing down the possibilities of what we could pull off in the transfer market. It’s a sad reality compared to what could’ve been.

However, not all is bad. Harvey Elliott and Fabio Carvalho in particular have benefitted greatly from the situation, as they’ve solidified themselves as solid squad options at least, if not possible starters. Along with Curtis Jones, it is fair to ask whether or not any of them would’ve been properly developed if Keita and Ox stayed healthy and lived up to the expectations. I’d like to think quality shines through no matter what and that Elliott especially would’ve received chances, but we’d never know for certain whether or not that would’ve happened. And in that way, the misfortunes of Ox and Keita might have been equal parts blessing and curse. Our midfield isn’t as good as it could’ve been, but other options are emerging to fill the role and could be foundational pieces moving forward.