Naby Keita suspended by Werder Bremen until the end of the season

Guinean midfielder Naby Keita has been suspended until the end of the season by Werder Bremen for refusing to travel to Leverkusen last weekend, the German club said in a statement on Tuesday. “Naby’s behavior for us as a club is not acceptable. With this action, he left his team in a difficult sporting and personal situation. And he put himself above the team. We can’t let this go.”explained the sporting director of Werder Bremen, Clemens Fritz, quoted in the press release.

“This measure had no alternative”he added, and thought it should be concentrated on “the schedule and the team”, currently 12th in the Bundesliga with five days to go, five points ahead of Mainz, the play-offs. According to Werder Bremen, Keita refused to travel with the team to Leverkusen, after being told on Saturday that he would not start on Sunday against the Bundesliga leaders, and “decided to go home and stay away from the game” eventually lost 5-0.

“Since the start of my career, wherever I’ve been, I’ve never had a disciplinary problem and I’ve always tried to be exemplary. I will therefore not accept that anyone damages this image.”reacted Naby Keita on Monday on his Instagram account, comments reported by German media Sports1. The 29-year-old Guinea international joined Bremen in the summer of 2023, after an unconvincing five-season stay at Liverpool. Injured during the first half of the season, retained with Guinea in the African Cup of Nations at the start of 2024, Keita played just five matches with Werder, for just over 100 minutes of play.