Liverpool Star's Agent Hits Out At Jurgen Klopp After Chelsea Draw

Naby Keita's agent has slammed Jurgen Klopp, hitting out at his decision to bench the midfielder against Chelsea.

Keita was an unused substitute in Liverpool's 1-1 draw with Chelsea on Saturday.

The 26-year-old started in his side's previous two Premier League matches, both of which they won against Norwich and Burnley.

Image: PA

But he didn't get a single minute on the pitch against Chelsea, with the player's agent, Malick Kebe, questioning Klopp's handling of the Guinea international on social media.

He tweeted: "It's really hard for me to understand Klopp, you have to be him to put Naby Keita on the bench right now in his form. Your super coach is solely responsible for this draw against Chelsea."

Keita has been hit-and-miss for Liverpool since his big-money move from RB Leipzig in 2018.

Despite dropping points at Anfield to 10-man Chelsea, the Reds remain unbeaten in the league having picked up seven points from their opening three matches.

Speaking after the game, Klopp told the club's official website: "Today we had obviously bigger chances in the first half already which we didn't score off, that means the performance was really good against the strongest Chelsea side for a long, long time.

"It was always difficult against Chelsea and it's now difficult against Chelsea, so I was really happy with the first half. And the second half.

"I'm not somebody who watches football from time to time and thinks, 'Oh, 11 versus 10, that must be easy.'

"I saw five million games and know that is really not a massive advantage, especially against a quality side like Chelsea with the defending skills they have and with now the job they had to do just to defend in and around the box more or less. It was tricky.

"We could have done better for sure, but it's early in the season, you need this one moment where you can get through, where you can finish it off. We had our finishes, we had good football moments, we tried everything, we defended their potential counter-attacks most of the time really well.

"Sometimes we had to run a bit further to catch them again but we did. Chelsea put a proper shift in as well, you have to say, I respect that. So, it's a draw, just take the point and carry on."

Topics: Liverpool, Football, Naby Keita, Jurgen Klopp

Nasir Jabbar

Nasir Jabbar is a journalist at SPORTbible. He graduated from Bath Spa University with a BA in Media Communications. He's a combat sport aficionado and has contributed to MMA websites AddictedMMA and CagePotato. Nasir has covered some of the biggest fights, while interviewing the likes of Conor McGregor, Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury and Darren Till. He's also an avid Bristol City fan.

@https://twitter.com/NasJabbar