KEIT READY TO FLY HIGH
Kop new boy set for lift-off
NABY KEITA could get a bird’s-eye view of his new Liverpool team-mates who boss Jurgen Klopp expects to fly even higher next season.
The Guinea international has been signed, sealed and will be delivered as a £48million midfielder on July 1 at Anfield.
But before then, Klopp is considering the possibility of sending Keita, 23, a VIP ticket to watch the Champions League Final against Real Madrid in Kiev in just under three weeks.
If he takes his seat in the Olympiyskiy Stadium, Keita will see close up how Liverpool perform on one of the world’s biggest stages – and will no doubt picture in his mind the part he will play when the new campaign kicks off.
Klopp is certain that Keita will be a huge success in a red shirt following his two-year stint at RB Leipzig – although after three red cards this season he will be keen to calm him down.
He will arrive with glowing reports, though, as a box-to-box midfielder who draws comparisons with N’Golo Kante and Deco.
Klopp is seriously impressed with his new signing – the first of a new batch of players destined for Anfield over the summer, with another Leipzig star Timo Werner and Borussia Dortmund forward Christian Pulisic (below) also on the radar. Klopp, asked if he would take Keita to the final, said: “I have not been thinking about things like this but if Naby is reading this and he wants to come to the final, he is invited. Yes, this is not my first problem but I will think about it.
“Hopefully Naby will have a big effect on the team immediately because of his quality. This was a difficult year for
Naby in Germany and for Leipzig in general.
“But he still had outstanding performances. Not the same number as last year but the whole team didn’t do exactly the same as last year.
“One thing, though, is that he doesn’t play in the World Cup so he will have a full pre-season which will help a lot.” Klopp (above) promises any new signings will make Liverpool an even bigger threat next time around. He added: “We will probably sign a couple more players because that’s how it is. First of all we have to strengthen the squad.
“To bring in players who are 200 per cent better than the players we already have will be quite
STEVEN GERRARD has vowed that he will clear out the spineless flops that were humiliated TWICE by Celtic in the space of a fortnight as he strives to make Rangers a force again.
The new Ibrox boss has seen footage of the 4-0 hammering in the Scottish Cup Semi-Final and the 5-0 Old Firm league thrashing last week as Celtic clinched seven titles in a row.
And he has made it clear that he will not tolerate anyone who does not match his desire and passion.
Gerrard said: “I can’t have that. That’s got to stop. That’s got to stop now.
“These players will know very quickly what myself and my staff are about and what we demand.
“A lot of them will already know what the club demands but it’s very important from the off that they really buy into what we are trying to do here and there’s a lot of areas where we need to improve.
“I need players that are willing to adapt, players that are going to believe in what we are trying to do. But I have been difficult but we will still need to do a few things to have more depth in the squad.
“It is always important to bring in the right players. That is what we work for during the whole year.
“We are only looking for really good players. And we will have to be 100 per cent convinced about the players we bring in.”
Klopp has two Premier League games left in a spectacular season, starting with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge today. And then he can concentrate his mind on the big final against Cristiano Ronaldo and Co.
His progress since arriving at Anfield has been impressive but the German is still not clear whether he is ahead of schedule. Klopp said: “I don’t know. I never thought about a schedule, that specific part. We have always tried to take the chance in the moment when we’ve had the chance – and that’s it.
“But the Champions League Final couldn’t be further away from me at the moment so we don’t even have a chance to celebrate a little bit inside and wake up in the morning and think life is good.
“Our life for the next week is the Premier League, a very important week. And then we can talk about all the rest in the right moment.” Champions League, the UEFA Cup, two FA Cups, the League Cup three times and 114 caps for England during his remarkable career with Liverpool. The one thing he is missing is a league championship title and if he can deliver one for Rangers it might just be the greatest achievement of all.
He said: “To win the first title of my career would be massive.
“I met the supporters and the welcome I got was fantastic. I appreciate and respect what they want and they want instant success. “They want it yesterday – I get it – but I have been brought in for a reason and the reason is because the team and the squad need to improve.”