Where is Naby Keita now? Former Liverpool ace prepares for 'new role' after 'rejecting transfer'

Former Liverpool star Naby Keita is still essentially in limbo after he rejected a move to Turkey during the summer. He is still at the Bundesliga side Werder Bremen but hasn't played for it this season.

Keita, 29, left Liverpool when his contract expired in the summer of 2023. He moved to the German side on a free transfer but only made five appearances for the first team last term.

In April, he was suspended from first-team duties amid allegations that he refused to travel with the squad to a game at Bayer Leverkusen after learning he had been omitted from the starting XI. Keita denied these claims in a post on social media .

Since this public dispute, the midfielder hasn't played for Werder Bremen. His only game time has been for Guinea in the Olympic games, although he has been left out of the national squad for their last four matches.

Recent posts on Keita's Instagram account suggest that he is preparing for a new role. Despite having two years left on his contract with Bremen, it seems unlikely that he will play for the club again.

It appears that Keita has taken on ambassadorial positions for CAF and Unicef, reports the Liverpool ECHO . A recent post shows him attending a CAF event, while previous posts by Unicef show the midfielder promoting the charity's initiatives.

Keita underwent a medical with Turkish side Hatayspor over the summer, but the player turned down the move. As a result, he is expected to remain on the sidelines until at least January. Between 2018 and 2023, Keita made a total of 129 appearances for Liverpool, netting 11 goals and providing an additional seven assists.

"It was less predictable with Naby [that the transfer wouldn't work out]," former Liverpool FC director of research Ian Graham told Liverpool.com last month. "He didn’t have much of an injury history and he also didn’t have that kind of relentless two-games-per-week schedule in Germany.

"At the same time, he was never really a regular starter in the Liverpool team so it was difficult for him to build up that rhythm. Injuries were part of it and I don’t want to put words in anyone’s mouth, but I think the coaches were probably a little bit reluctant to use him every game because he was a very risky player."

Liverpool.com says: Keita looked like a world-beater when he was at RB Leipzig but it just didn't work out for him at Anfield. Injuries got in the way but even when he was fit, he didn't look physical enough for the Premier League . It's a shame because he clearly has talent.