What does Naby Keïta actually do?
How he went from a royal transfer to a mega-flop at Werder
October 25, 2025 – 6:11 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
Naby Keïta once came to Werder Bremen as a top transfer. He is now playing in Hungary. A return to the Weser seems impossible.
Once celebrated as a royal transfer, the liaison between Werder Bremen and Naby Keïta backfired badly. The former star midfielder played five Bundesliga games in the Hanseatic League jersey. Nothing more happened after that – and it will probably stay that way.
The 30-year-old is still under contract with Werder. His working paper on the Weser runs until June 30, 2026. However, he hasn’t played football there for a long time. But first things first.
In the summer of 2023, Keïta moved from Premier League club Liverpool to Bremen. In his luggage: a Champions League title, an English championship and several national cup triumphs. Also, among other things, the experience from 84 Premier League games (7 goals, 5 assists) for the “Reds” and 58 Bundesliga games (14 goals, 13 assists) for RB Leipzig.
Werder celebrated the free transfer of the man from Guinea as a coup. In courting Keïta, they prevailed against “numerous” interested parties. The plan: get the midfielder back to “top level” after several injuries.
But the plan didn’t work. Keïta also suffered from persistent muscular problems at Werder. He missed the first four league games injured. Then he played three times in a row – and was injured again. A muscle injury, a flu-like infection and being sidelined for the Africa Cup prevented further missions until March 2024. He was then allowed to play for four minutes against Union and for 22 minutes against VfL Wolfsburg.
However, his performance was not convincing. He then sat on the bench for 90 minutes against Eintracht Frankfurt. When he was threatened with a place on the reserve bench for the following away game at Bayer Leverkusen despite the severe staff shortage, Keïta refused to go.
The club then suspended its prominent new signing until the end of the season. Since then he has only trained with the U23s.
There was no prospect for Keïta in Bremen in the next six months either. At the turn of the year he finally ran away. He went on loan to the Hungarian champions Ferencváros Budapest. At least he was allowed to play football there again. He has played 23 competitive games there so far (four assists), became the Hungarian champion and is playing in the Europa League this season.
However, his loan contract in Hungary expires at the end of the year. It seems impossible that he will then return to Werder despite his current contract. Peter Niemeyer, head of professional football at Werder, recently told the “Deichstube”: “We have already said in the past that Naby will no longer wear the Werder jersey. Nothing has changed in the meantime.”
The tablecloth between Werder and its former top transfer Keïta has been cut. Where he will continue from 2026 is unclear. According to reports, Ferencváros has a purchase option for the midfielder.