Pep Lijnders blown away by ace that rejected Barcelona and Bayern Munich to join Liverpool for £48million

Naby Keita will be handed fresh Liverpool terms as his contract with the club is set to expire in 2023 as he approaches full fitness.

Writing in his training camp diary for the club's official website, assistant manager Pepijn Lijnders provided insight into Naby Keita's amazing technical ability.

As part of the club's aim to increase squad morale, a team quiz was held as well as some activity rounds and he says Keita was the highlight.

Lijnders wrote: "As well as question rounds, we also had some activity rounds – and I have to say, the highlight was Naby doing about 50 keepy-ups with a tennis ball… in his flip-flops.

"That was just crazy!"

According to Goal's Neil Jones, with Keita's terms set to expire in 2023, the club is ready to offer him a new contract.

This might seem odd to some given that he has barely been able to contribute in his three years at the club due to injury.

Since joining Liverpool for £48m, he has suffered a myriad of injuries and while he seems to have no issues with performances, being fit enough to play remains his biggest problem.

All that said, Keita has been fit since February and is currently in peak condition heading into the new season.

A new midfielder might be on the club's transfer list but if Keita can remain fit and reach the levels that prompted Liverpool to buy him, Jurgen Klopp will have serious selection headaches this season.

Upon joining the club, Keita was asked about rejecting interest from Barcelona and Bayern Munich and he replied: “It’s true to say that there were other teams involved like the ones you mentioned. But a big part of my decision was the role of the coach.”

I wrote last week that I'd like to see Keita start in the first game of the season vs Norwich City as he will have had more pre-season than the like of Thiago, Jordan Henderson and Fabinho.

Anfield Central reported exclusively in January that Liverpool had assigned the midfielder his very own private physio that would stay with him at his home and work on ensuring that any time he felt discomfort, they could stretch the muscle out, ice a sore joint or even tell the coaching staff that he needed to limit his workload.

Additionally, with his live-in chef already cooking for him, Liverpool told him to cut back on the amount of red meat he was eating to limit inflammation and aid recovery.

Since these measures were implemented, Keita hasn’t suffered a single injury and has been in the best physical condition of his Liverpool career.

Fitness is only part of his recent battles and now, with the Guinean at pre-season since the 12th of July, Keita will need to work hard to prove to Klopp that he should be in contention to start the first Premier League game of the season.