When Lazio signed Keita Balde Diao and Mamadou Tounkara on a free transfer there was a lot of excitement. They both came from the Barcelona youth team and when they played their first game for the Primavera team everybody was certain they would become future stars. Tounkara virtually disappeared, Keita did not but has never managed to fulfil all of his enormous potential.
Keita was born at Arbucies, near Girona in Spain, on March 8 1995 to Senegalese parents. He started playing for the youth teams of Barcelona in 2004 and was highly considered. But one day in Qatar where the team was playing a youth competition he was punished by the club for having played a trick on a teammate. As a consequence he was sent to Cornellà where in a season he scored 47 goals. When Barcelona asked him to come back he refused and signed for Lazio.
He was a baby phenomenon. He was very fast, not very tall but could shoot with both feet, a proper winger. Lazio first waited for his Spanish passport to be ready, but since that was taking forever in the end signed him as a non- EU player so he could start playing for the Primavera.
With Lazio he won the Primavera Scudetto in 2013 together with Tounkara, Danilo Cataldi and Thomas Strakosha. For the 2013-14 season he was an A Team player, though sometimes loaned to the primavera. He debuted in Serie A (Lazio Chievo 3-0 on September 15) and Internationally (Lazio Legia Warsaw 1-0 on September 18). He scored his first professional goal at Parma on November 10.
He made a lot of appearances but did not score much. That was because he was mainly played in the second half. Stefano Pioli often used him when Lazio had difficulty in scoring. He would come on in the second half and open up defences, allowing his teammates to score. This tendency of starting him on the bench would continue even under Simone Inzaghi but at one point in the 2016-17 season, in order to put Keita closer to the goal, Inzaghi changed Lazio’s formation to a 3-5-2. Keita was nearer Immobile and they both thrived. Keita scored 16 goals that season and showed just how good he could be.
But there was a problem. His agent, Roberto Calenda, did everything he possibly could to alienate the player from the club. His continuous intrusions and complaints did not make negotiations for Keita’s contract renewal easy. Keita considered himself a top player, on a par with his more famous colleagues, and according to his agent, at Lazio he was not getting the consideration he deserved. The player wanted lots of money and Lazio were not really prepared to satisfy him.
In the summer of 2017 Juventus were interested in signing him but the offer was too low. Milan also made an offer but Keita had already given his word to Juve so he refused. Monaco then sold Kylian Mbappé and chose Keita to substitute him.
But Keita was not Mbappé and Monaco soon realised that they had a decent player but not a top player. Monaco came second, but Keita was a bit of a disappointment, especially if compared to the Frenchman. In August 2018, he was loaned to Inter with a purchase option. He did not play as much as he wanted and often came in from the bench. That devastating player he was at Lazio was no more. He did contribute to Inter reaching the Champions League slots but at the end of the season he returned to Monaco after 29 appearances and five goals
After another year in Ligue 1 he was loaned to Sampdoria for a season but he did not impress much and at the end he returned to Monaco.
In 2021 the French side sold him to Cagliari but it was a dismal year for the club and they ended up relegated to Serie B. Keita, thanks to a special clause in his contract, became a free agent and in August 2022 signed for Spartak Moscow. He stayed until August 2023, not playing all that much, when he was loaned to Espaynol in the Spanish second tier. His contract expired with Spartak and in August 2024 he signed with Sivasspor
Keita could have played for either Spain or Senegal and in the end he decided to play for the latter. He has played in the Africa Cup of Nations in 2017, 2019 and 2021 and also played one game in the 2018 World Cup. He has appeared 40 times for Senegal and scored 6 goals.
Keita played 137 games for Lazio (110 in Serie A, 12 in Coppa Italia, 2 in Champions League and 13 in Europa League) and scored 31 goals (26 in Serie A, 3 in Coppa Italia, one in Champions League and one in Europa League).
He was a very exciting player who could change the course of a match in a second. Powerful, fast, good dribbler, it was a pity that he did not fulfil all of the promise.
Lazio Career
Season | Total appearances (goals) | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Champions League | Europa League |
2013-14 | 35 (6) | 25 (5) | 2 | - | 8 (1) |
2014-15 | 29 (4) | 23 (1) | 6 (3) | - | - |
2015-16 | 39 (5) | 31 (4) | 1 | 2 (1) | 5 |
2016-17 | 34 (16) | 31 (16) | 3 | - | - |
Total | 137 (31) | 110 (26) | 12 (3) | 2 (1) | 13 (2) |
Sources
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