During his time at Liverpool, Michael Edwards struck gold in the transfer window. On this occasion, however, he got it horribly wrong.

The sun may be beaming down on Anfield, but Liverpool have suffered through their fair share of rough patches in recent history.

In the era that preceded the arrival of the revolutionary Jurgen Klopp, the Premier League giants didn’t match performances to their status as a powerhouse in world football, failing to qualify for the Champions League between the years 2010 and 2013.

Presently, the Reds are battling it out on Thursday nights in the Europa League, but one underwhelming campaign can’t remove the masterful work that has been done during the trophy-laden Klopp era, orchestrated by sporting director Michael Edwards.

Edwards spent 11 years at the club in numerous roles before his departure last year, propelling the club back to their glory days through his ability to negotiate cut-price deals and earn the club huge profits on their assets.

He was instrumental in the club’s biggest-ever sale as Philippe Coutinho joined Barcelona for a staggering £142m in January 2018 and in the transfer window prior, he was behind the remarkable deal that saw Liverpool buy Andrew Robertson for £8m from Hull City while Kevin Stewart went in the other direction for a similar price.

The impact he had on transforming the Reds is unquestionable, however, there were a few blotches on his copybook – after all – no one is perfect.

One of those was the deal to bring Naby Keita to the club in 2018, a player who massively underwhelmed in his five-year spell at Anfield.

How much did Naby Keita cost Liverpool?

In 2018, Klopp revamped his midfield by bringing in monstrous holding midfielder Fabinho while the £52m addition of Keita was supposed to challenge the likes of Jordan Henderson and Georginio Wijnaldum for one of the advanced midfield spots.

Compared to legend Steven Gerrard by former Reds manager Gerard Houllier, Keita was meant to bring with him the complete midfield performances that were so often associated with the former.

Across his two spells at RB Salzburg and RB Leipzig, he produced 37 goals and 26 assists in 152 appearances and the 5 foot 8 metronome was expected to post similar numbers in the Premier League with Liverpool paying the premium for his services.

The Reds paid him a weekly wage of £120k per week, amounting to £6.27m a year and a whopping £18.72m for the time he spent at the club. It is fair to say, Keita bled the club dry as his move to England unravelled into a nightmare.

How did Naby Keita perform at Liverpool?

While Keita showed signs of the player he could have been at Liverpool, demonstrating glimpses of his fleet-footed ball-carrying and ability to slalom past the opposition markers, his reputation at the club was unfortunately tarnished by consistent injury issues and poor availability.

Spending a total of 89 days out in his first season and missing a total of 15 matches, his inaugural campaign at Anfield foreshadowed the rest of his time there.

A hugely talented player was being ruined by injuries which saw him miss an astonishing 107 games across the next four seasons due to injury troubles alone, much to the frustrations of Klopp.

While fitness problems hampered his progression – even when he made himself available for selection – he was utilised as a squad rotation player and ultimately failed to endear himself to the Anfield supporters when given an opportunity.

Dubbed by former player Dietmar Hamann as a “disappointment”, who summed up his Liverpool career perfectly, the 28-year-old managed a total of 129 appearances in all competitions for the club, mustering only 11 goals and seven assists, averaging a goal contribution once every seven games.

What’s more alarming is the fact that Keita only managed to complete the full ninety minutes in 12 of his 84 Premier League appearances, as per Transfermarkt, with his lacklustre displays forcing Klopp into substituting him early.

Despite arriving for a huge sum, Keita offered next to nothing during his five-year stay, only depleting the club’s resources of £70.7m at a cost of £3.9m per goal contribution and £6.4m every goal scored.

Liverpool’s agony was compounded this summer after the 28-year-old left the club to join Werder Bremen on a free transfer.