Who’s Been the Bigger Flop – Liverpool’s Naby Keita or Manchester United’s Fred?

Premier League rivals Liverpool and Manchester United both splashed the cash on midfielders this summer, signing Naby Keita for £54 million and Fred for £52 million respectively. However, both have been disappointing.

Football is a game of money now, and that has become clear in recent years. The sides with more money to spend often get to lift more trophies, apart from the occasional underdog of course. However, spending the money is only half of the equation – the other half is spending it correctly. With big clubs having so much at their disposal, overpaying is pretty common, but it’s often difficult to separate bad deals from good deals prior to watching the players actually play. Liverpool and Manchester United spent plenty of money this summer on Naby Keita and Fred respectively, and neither of them has hit the heights expected. While both of them have underwhelmed, Naby Keita has flopped harder, seeing as his expectations were far higher.

Naby Keita was brilliant at RB Leipzig and is a technically-gifted specimen. With the Reds having an extremely uninspiring midfield last year, Keita was supposed to be their new superstar midfielder which helped fill the void left by Coutinho along with help phase out James Milner from the first XI. This hasn’t worked out whatsoever, as Keita has looked extremely flat all season and deprived of his normal brilliance. Milner has retained his role in midfield and Keita has continued to struggle with form and injury. The Guinean is still 24 however, and by no means can this deal be considered a flop just yet. Keita has proven himself in the Bundesliga and is clearly a very talented footballer that Jurgen Klopp needs to continue putting faith in.

Fred on the other hand, had a bit less pedigree when coming to the Premier League. The Brazilian international enjoyed a long, successful spell with Shakhtar Donetsk, where he featured in 155 matches over the course of 5 seasons. However, the Ukrainian league isn’t anywhere near the level of the Premier League and many actually expected him to struggle. Although his performance levels have actually been lower than Keita’s, it’s the difference in expectations for the 2 that makes Keita’s season a bit more disappointing.

Fred has made 13 Premier League appearances (9 starts, 4 subs), along with 4 starts in the Champions League and 1 in the FA Cup. His cumulative rating via whoscored.com is an extremely poor 6.61. Keita has made 21 Premier League appearances (12 starts, 9 subs) and 4 Champions League appearances (2 starts, 2 subs) for an extremely disappointing 6.58 cumulative score. Although ratings databases do not tell the full story, they are still a useful metric for assessing performances from a player over a lengthy period of time.

Both players have had some good performances of late, with both surely hoping to build upon them. Fred was excellent in Manchester United’s come from behind victory over PSG, while Naby Keita excelled in the first-leg against Bayern Munich and the fixture against Bournemouth prior to that. So not all is bad with either!

It is clear that both Naby Keita and Fred have disappointed their supporters at Liverpool and Manchester United, especially when you consider the sheer volume of cash dished out to secure their services. Naby Keita is truthfully a more talented player than Fred, and since he is also 2 years younger, can be considered the better deal despite having a lower rating on the season. Both players however, will need to work hard in the summer in order to perform up to expectations next season, or they may be facing uncertain futures.