Guinea opt to let Keita continue his recovery

by Staff Reporter

Wednesday Sep 21, 2022. 11:35

The Guinean Football Federation (FEGUIFOOT) has announced that Naby Keita will play no part in the upcoming friendlies against Algeria and Ivory Coast this month.

The Guinea captain was included in Kaba Diawara’s 24-man squad on September 7 despite being left at home for Liverpool’s trip to Napoli in the UEFA Champions League that same day.

Keita has yet to feature for the Reds this season due to a muscular injury and they sent through a medical report to update FEGUIFOOT on his situation.

Guinean football’s governing body decided to heed the Premier League club’s advice and will not risk the 27-year-old midfielder for the games against the Fennec Foxes and the Elephants.

“The technical staff of the Guinea national team has made the final decision to let the player continue his club’s treatment protocol in order to allow him to return to competition as soon as possible and be available for the next national team matches,” FEGUIFOOT said in a statement.

Keita has plenty of time to recover for the National Elephants’ 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in March next year as they failed to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar and have no other games scheduled for the remainder of 2022.