I hope he does great. I really do. But let's not have any illusions about him - he has been complicit in the hype about himself. This is from a profile of him from two months ago:
Naby Keïta would settle down in front of the television, lie back and think of England. It was a routine he would adopt at least once a week, sometimes more.
Training at RB Leipzig had concluded for the day and, while his club-mates set about relaxing, the midfielder headed straight home to forensically dissect another 90 minutes of footage from the Premier League, just as a scout pores over an upcoming opponent to pinpoint their strengths and expose their weaknesses.
Except Keïta was doing it over the team he would be joining.
A move to Anfield had been agreed in August 2017 for the following summer and, as he played out time in the Bundesliga, he was determined to ensure his adaptation to new surroundings would be seamless.
Keïta always had the potential to be a star for Liverpool. But, first, he had to be a student.
“I watched every match. It was going to be important for me,” he says. “The way they played, the tactics, everything. Obviously, I still had the contract with Leipzig and I was focused 100 per cent on helping them but I was watching every game.
“You are fulfilling a dream of coming to a massive club like Liverpool — it is normal you do as much as you can to prepare to be ready from the moment you arrive. I suppose the people I concentrated on the most being a midfielder, and looking at things offensively, was Bobby [Roberto Firmino], Sadio [Mané] and Mo [Salah]. I knew Sadio from Red Bull Salzburg, but I would look at their movements.
“They are all fast, skilful, comfortable on the ball; the speed of the two guys out wide means they want the ball in front of them quite often so they can get in behind.
“Bobby likes to come a little deeper and join in, so he wants it to feet. I knew all this before I came, then, of course, you have to assimilate the manager’s ideas, but I had an idea of how I could help to get the team playing and join in with moves.”
So the "lad" hardly came here with a hankie tied on a stick and a book of nursery rhymes under his arm. He and his agent spent a year registering every company name and commercial venture conceivable, and he came ready to be a super star. And as the comments above suggest, he came ready to make a big impact immediately. So I think people are entitled to be puzzled and concerned about the "lad". For someone who claims he'd studied his future team and role for a year, he sure as hell hasn't looked like it. His performances in Germany were often very exciting, so there's great expectations, but now there is also pressure, and he needs to face up to it. Fabinho didn't chatter away before he came and the fact that he's been judged not ready has been enough to get him dismissed as a failure by some. Keita came announcing he was ready for a regular role and - in contrast - has been excused so fanatically it's almost cultish. He's talked the talk, so he damned well needs to walk the walk.
