Have finally been linked (albeit by unreliable sources). I believe this guy is the answer to our midfield problem. He's like Kante but better going forward. He has been huge for RB Leipzig this season. Our midfield would be set for a very long time if we managed to sign him. Very young with massive potential.

Strengths? Weaknesses? Any good read about his style of play?

59 minutes ago, didierforever said:

Strengths? Weaknesses? Any good read about his style of play?

Here's some good quotes (ignore the dated stats, just take note of his playing style description)...

"Equal parts Kanté, Andrea Pirlo and Steven Gerrard, Keita is close to being the complete modern-day midfielder. The 18-cap Guinea international covers every blade of grass throughout 90 minutes; in his role as one of two deep midfielders for Leipzig, he constantly plugs gaps when team-mates vacate their position."

"With impeccable anticipation, he's averaging three interceptions per game so far this season, while also making 2.4 tackles and conceding only 1.8 fouls. He's not just an enforcer, though: Keita’s phenomenal range of passing is an aspect of his game that often gets overlooked thanks to his whirlwind style, but he has a useful knack for consistently picking out a team-mate."

"Perhaps the most striking aspect of Keita’s arsenal is his remarkable ability to play incredibly accurate forward passes while on the move. This, in conjunction with his expert dribbling – he completes an average of three take-ons per game – means the former FC Istres star is adept at playing through the most rigorous of presses."

"Offensively, Keita is brilliant at timing his runs into the penalty area to latch onto cutbacks and second balls, which is exactly how he netted the aforementioned winner against Dortmund. He's also a threat from distance, where his clean striking technique means he can pick out the corner of the goal from anywhere within 25 yards – just as he did against Freiburg recently."

He has been the best CM in the Bundesliga this season IMO. Not sure why we wouldn't be all over him.

 

5.8"??
Looks a good player I'll agree but seems better suited to 4-5-1/4-3-3?

Edited May 8, 20179 yr by the special one

gotta love an african central midfielder hehe. can very rarely go wrong with em. however, never watched this guy so can''t comment. are leipzig austrian? 

Edited May 8, 20179 yr by enigma

Keita's weakness - aerial duels/strength
Kante's weakness is also aerial duels and strength. To have two short CMs isn't a good combination for me, too many lost aerial duels in centre mid equates to dropped points over the course of the season. I'm not Bakayoko's biggest fan but can see how he might compliment Kante in Conte's 3-4-3.
Good player but pass, if we're looking for a #8 would prefer we signed Brozovic (or give Pasalic/van Ginkel/Baker a chance)

Edited May 8, 20179 yr by the special one

Two short CM's is the reason i'm not too keen on Verratti. Would get killed in the air or against a big physical team. 

Kanté - Mikel - Keita

 

Sorted

3 minutes ago, PloKoon13 said:

Kanté - Mikel - Keita

 

Sorted

I see what you did there. Alternatively?

           Tibo
     Azpi - Luiz - Cahill
Moses - Kante - Alonso
   Keita - Bakayoko
        Hazard
             Diego

Surely Bakayoko has retired by now. He wasn't a very good striker 15 years ago, I can't imagine he's a good midfielder now.

I feel like we need a tank next to Kante.

Looks quite similar to mata and pedro 

3 hours ago, RIP Mourinho said:

 

May be in the minority here but that was not all that impressive

Deffo not an upgrade over Kessie/Bakayoko/Tolisso for me. Keita has scored a few goals this season but (assuming we persist with 3-4-3 next season) two inside forwards, CF, and the wing backs are where the majority of goals should come from. I'm not against signing him as a CM for 4-3-3/4-5-1 (3-3-2-2??), but only to replace Pasalic/van Ginkel.

Edited May 8, 20179 yr by the special one

3 hours ago, Zeta said:

I feel like we need a tank next to Kante.

Finding the next Yaya Toure would be nice.

i'm not sure height would be a big issue. matic is 6'4 and is poor in the air. if the guy has a good leap on him it more than makes up for height. 

He's good in Fifa, I wonder is this what a lot of people are basing their opinions on? I know Leipzig have had a brilliant season, but I think there are other players out there who would suit us better, obviously if we signed him I'd be happy, but not as happy as if we signed Nainggolan or someone a bit more  . . explosive. Also for whoever asked about leipzig, they're in the bundesliga, newly founded club in about 2010, sponsored by Red Bull, they only got promoted this year but stormed into second place ( which is basically like winning it because Bayern are just an autowin every year these days) 

i think keita is the one who suits our needs the most. he plays in a team very similar to how conte seems to want our team to play; loads of pressing, running and movement off the ball. the sterotypical african midfield player is physical, but maybe not as disciplined (or technical) on and off the ball. keita has proven that he is both physical, disciplined and technical and is the stand out player for germanys second best team.

On 5/8/2017 at 19:48, RMCM said:

He's good in Fifa, I wonder is this what a lot of people are basing their opinions on? 

Funnily enough, you can actually get a good idea on how good a player is by fifa.

1 minute ago, Argo said:

Funnily enough, you can actually get a good idea on how good a player is by fifa.

Not really though, I play fifa, but it doesn't have much bearing on the real world, otherwise everyone club would be scrambling around trying to sign Ahmed Musa and Renato Sanches. I prefer to base it on real life

2 minutes ago, RMCM said:

Not really though, I play fifa, but it doesn't have much bearing on the real world, otherwise everyone club would be scrambling around trying to sign Ahmed Musa and Renato Sanches. I prefer to base it on real life

To be fair to him, Bayern did sign him and now he's being linked with United sooooo....

1 minute ago, RMCM said:

Not really though, I play fifa, but it doesn't have much bearing on the real world, otherwise everyone club would be scrambling around trying to sign Ahmed Musa and Renato Sanches. I prefer to base it on real life

Not a definite judgement, but i noticed Mauricio Lemos on there and then watched a few games of him for real out of curiosity and he was exactly the type of the player i got the impression he was by playing him on career.

29 minutes ago, TheChelseaBlues said:

To be fair to him, Bayern did sign him and now he's being linked with United sooooo....

Apparently Bayern want Goretzka to replace him?? Maybe there's hope King Carlo will sell Vidal to us? 

Edited May 11, 20179 yr by the special one

1 hour ago, TheChelseaBlues said:

To be fair to him, Bayern did sign him and now he's being linked with United sooooo....

Yeah he was incredible for bayern I guess . . . at keeping the bench nice and cozy and warm 

What i mean in general is people find good players on fifa and automatically assume they're good in real life football without ever watching them play, I'm all for Fifa introducing people to new players and things, provided they actually watch them before making a judgement on how good they are