Tata Yaya, I’m new kid on block

But in the football-mad town of Koleya near the port city of Conakry in Guinea, the message to the Kop is: “Stay calm – Naby Keita is coming.” On the impoverished streets of Koleya they believe Keita is going to be the biggest African star t he Premier League has ever seen. Bigger even than his idol Yaya Toure plus Didier Drogba, Kop team-mate-to-be Sadio Mane, George Weah, Kanu and Samuel Eto’o. Proud dad Sekou calls him the “fruit of Africa” while locals he grew up with in Koleya say: “This football player is a gift from God.” Keita, currently at RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga, is a torch-bearer for t he people of Guinea and, even though the £ 60m transfer fee will give the youngster huge personal wealth with wages of £100,000 a week and more, he won’t forget his roots. He said: “Becoming a Liverpool player will be very special, and a very important step in my career, but I won’t let fame go to my head. One should never forget where one

“And I also donate money to victims of floods and help my friends and family too because I’m proud of where I am from.”

Keita’s rise from the shantytown environment of Koleya is the kind of story which gives hope to thousands of footballcrazy kids across Africa.

While plenty of his new Anfield team- mates will have been pampered and cosseted at plush academies, where an ample supply of new boots, training kits and hefty paypackets are the order of the day, Keita hit the streets to hone his skills.

And the French-speaking star recalls how even cars driving down the road didn’t stop his street games growing up. “When RB Leipzig RB Leipzig Coutinho 13 14 992 1116 2 7 23 54 1 5 19 40 662 690 547 544 82.6 78.8 41 17 29 10 Games 31 Mins played 2412 Goals 8 Total shots 43 Assists 7 Chances created 40 Passes 1424 Successful passes 1164 Passing acc % 81.7 Tackles Interceptions 82 NABY KEITA wants to eclipse Manchester City’s Ivory Coast star Yaya Toure to become the best African player in the world.

The 22-year-old RB Leipzig midfield star is set to join Liverpool at the end of the season in a £60million deal agreed by the clubs last summer.

And Keita has already set his sights 81 we were little we played in the middle of the street and even when cars passed by we wouldn’t stop playing,” Keita told KickOff in Germany.

“It just meant we had to play smarter to avoid the cars and that helped you become better!

“In the street was where you learned your football, playing with boys and men much bigger, so I would say that I had to start to look out for myself.

“From very early on in my childhood I wanted to be a professional footballer.”

In a poverty-stricken town like Koleya, dreams of hitting the big time usually remain just that.

Even though Keita’s talent was special, his parents couldn’t see a way forward as they had no money to fund the gamble of sending him to Europe.

His father Sekou added: “I had always watched him play from a little boy and then people started to approach me about him. I told him that first he should go to school and learn and not just concentrate on being a footballer. I told him I didn’t have the financial means to send on making his mark in the world’s mostwatched League.

He said: “I want to become the best African player in the world.

“My idol from Africa is Yaya Toure (right). He is strong, works hard, and has made it to the very top.

“Where fate will ultimately lead me, nobody knows. I learn bit by bit and see him to Europe to be a footballer, but maybe somebody could help.”

Mum Mariam Camara adds: “One day he came to me and said ‘Let me please play football, it’s my future’.

“Everyone liked him, and people even contacted us and told us we should support our son if we could, but we just didn’t have the means to do that.”

Thankfully, Ali Bedara – a coach from Conakry – heard of Keita and started the ball rolling to get the 16-year-old to France.

Once there, he found himself at FC Istres – after failing trials at FC Lorient and Le Mans – and his journey to the Premier League was in full swing.

Graft

Red Bull Salzburg snapped him up and his career took off, leading to a move to the German Bundesliga with sister club RB Leipzig. Eight goals in 31 games last season attracted interest from England, with Jurgen Klopp jumping in first to snap up the energetic star who will add speed, dynamism, graft and goals to Liverpool’s midfield.

He’ll add aggression too – the tough-tackling Keita was sent off three times in seven games for Leipzig earlier this season.

Keita has also upset authorities off the pitch and faces a court case in Leipzig to reduce a huge £370,000 fine after allegedly producing a fake driving licence from Guinea to enable him to get a German licence.

The African star has also been accused of letting his Leipzig team-mates down because he has one eye on the Premier League – but he’s promising to give it everything in a Liverpool shirt when he gets to Anfield.

Keita said: “When I am on the field, I want to think that I am the best. It’s not for myself, it’s for the team.

“Once I do that, I can feel good.” my life and my career as a ladder on which I climb up step-by-step, rungby-rung, to grow ever further.”

Although he’s run into problems on and off the pitch at RB Leipzig, Keita said: “I love Leipzig and I will never forget this city. I joined RB because it is an exciting club with great potential.”