Liverpool: Naby Keita dropped a masterclass in 1-0 win vs Mainz in pre-season | OneFootball

Naby Keita's Liverpool career has been a bit of a disaster so far.

The Guinean midfielder arrived at Anfield from RB Leipzig in the summer 2018 and it was expected that he'd be a mainstay in the Reds' starting XI for years to come.

Sadly, persistent injury issues have hampered Keita's career at Liverpool thus far, with the 26-year-old restricted to just 32 Premier League starts in the past three seasons.

The former Red Bull Salzburg player has never had a consistent run in the team, which is a real shame, as he's shown glimpses of his quality in the famous red jersey.

But there's once again scope for cautious optimism with regards to Keita after his performance in Liverpool's pre-season friendly versus Mainz on Friday, which Jurgen Klopp's side won 1-0 courtesy of an own goal from Luca Kilian.

Keita played the first 45 minutes of the match and in that short space of time, the £28.80m-rated midfielder was able to drop a masterclass.

The Mainz players simply had no answer to his trickery, with the Liverpool man producing three moments of magic - two of them featuring brilliant nutmegs.

When he's in full flow, Keita makes the game look so, so easy.

Yes, we know it's just a pre-season friendly, but it's hard not to be impressed by those clips and fans on Twitter were raving about the Liverpool man's display.

Fan reaction to Keita's performance vs Mainz

They were mighty impressed. However, there's noticeably still the lingering fear that Keita will continue to suffer with injuries instead of building on his stellar pre-season.

That concern will sadly remain with Liverpool supporters until the Guinean maestro is able to stay fit for at least a few months.

For the sake of the player himself, we hope he's able to do just that and kickstart his career in English football as a result.