Upon hearing that he wouldn’t be in Werder Bremen’s starting eleven against now Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen, Naby Keita snubbed his team and refused to travel to Leverkusen.
Shortly before kick-off on Sunday, Clemens Fritz said: “After finding out yesterday that he wasn’t in the starting XI, Naby decided not to come with us to the ground, but instead chose to travel home. We’ll be speaking to him and his adviser tomorrow [Monday] about the consequences and where we go from here.”
According to Kicker, Keita’s Bremen future now hangs in the balance. The Guinean joined from Liverpool in the summer but has played just five Bundesliga games due to injuries.
Keita since released a statement on Instagram, stating that he doesn’t have disciplinary issues: “Since the beginning of my career, wherever I’ve been, I’ve never had problems with discipline and I’ve always tried to be a role model. So I won’t accept anybody tarnishing that image. To the fans: I want you to know that I fight every training session to make you happy every weekend. Training, giving everything, these are the limits of my strength. Allez, Werder.”
Marvin Ducksch responds to bizarre situation
Speaking on the “Kicker meets DAZN” podcast, teammate Marvin Ducksch was asked about Keita’s situation: “I have never experienced anything like this before, I’ll be honest. His clothes were still on the pitch. At some point in the shower, people came in and said that he had left with his private clothes.”
