Many were shocked to see Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain omitted from Liverpool’s Champions League squad this season, and the duo will soon be considering their futures at the club according to Fabrizio Romano.
A significant factor in the reasoning behind the pair being left out is of course injury.
Both midfielders are currently side-lined with fairly long-term issues which are going to keep them out for “a while” according to Klopp.
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And as such, if they were registered in the Champions League squad, it could have proven to be a nonsensical decision from a Liverpool perspective if they failed to recover before the end of the group stages.
And due to the World Cup in Qatar taking place in December, the group stages of the UCL aren’t going to take quite so long to complete this year, finishing on 2nd November.
If there are serious concerns at Liverpool that neither Oxlade-Chamberlain nor Keita will be able to regain 100% fitness by then, registering them for the squad would be pointless.
But understandably, the players are going to be upset by the omission, and Fabrizio Romano believes both could look for a way out sooner rather than later.
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Writing exclusively for CaughtOffside, referring to the pairs' omission, Romano revealed ‘I believe that next summer both players will evaluate their future.’
He added ‘Keita has already had opportunities in the summer, but Liverpool wanted to keep him because Klopp considers him an important player in the rotations.’
Liverpool fans certainly wouldn’t be surprised to see Keita leave next summer.
After arriving at the club from RB Leipzig in 2018 from a big money move, many hoped the midfielder would be the answer to the creative issues within the Liverpool engine.
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But his time on Merseyside has been plagued by injuries, with the intensity of the Premier League arguably too much for the Guinea international to handle.
Oxlade-Chamberlain on the other hand will see his Liverpool contract expire next summer, so after a similarly injury ravaged spell in England’s northwest, he’ll also likely depart at the end of the season.
Topics: Liverpool, Fabrizio Romano, Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain