Ralf Rangnick has suggested that Naby Keita is close to reaching his best form with Liverpool ahead of the Reds’ meeting with Manchester United.
The Reds are set to face-off against their inconsistent historical rivals in the Premier League, with the former in need of another three points to put pressure on Manchester City in the title race.
“He’s the kind of player who needs not only the attention of the manager, but everything has to be in the best possible way,” the Manchester United boss told Sky Sports (via The Boot Room).
“And I think for him, it was difficult to get used to that new style of football, to the level of expectation. But as you said, my feeling is that this season he has been coming close to his very best.
“He’s getting more game time, more regularly playing also from the beginning, and he can still be an amazing player. At No 8, he’s one of the best we ever had.”
The Guinean international has been in particularly solid form of late, excelling in the middle of the park against the Cityzens in the 3-2 FA Cup semi-final victory.
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Whether Klopp will favour his No.8 against the Sky Blues remains to be seen, though the fact the former RB Leipzig man was the first midfielder to be brought off the field of play will certainly work in his favour.
Regardless, we’d expect some changes to be made to protect our first-choice options in a busy month of football in which we continue to compete on all fronts for silverware.
If Keita can keep up his superb run of form, it will certainly be a massive help to our chances of securing a permanent slot in the history books.