Klopp details long-term plan for Naby Keita

Keita played an hour of Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup win at Milton Keynes Dons in his first appearance since the Community Shield due to injury.

Klopp felt the midfielder could have featured for longer at Stadium MK but stuck to the pre-arranged plan with a view to Keita’s long-term importance for the team.

“It is very important [to keep him fit],” said the boss.

“Pep [Lijnders] needed to remind that it was agreed with me before the game that he should only play 60 minutes. So we took him off when it looked like he could go longer in that game.

“So we have to be really sensitive in that situation because, obviously, [the injury] came all of a sudden. He was injured in the summer break during…