Guinea international Keita was signed by Liverpool last year for a reported £53million, though he stayed at RB Leipzig for the 2017-18 season.
Liverpool’s midfield was often said to be a problem area in the last campaign due to a lack of creativity following the departure of Philippe Coutinho, while they were also hampered at times by injuries.
But Keita produced an all-action display as the Reds hammered West Ham 4-0 at Anfield on Sunday, benefiting from the hard work of his team-mates to make an instant impact.
“Absolutely a good performance, of course,” Klopp said about Keita in his post-match news conference.
“After six weeks in I don’t make the difference between a new player and another player because for me, it is of similar importance to Millie [James Milner] and Gini [Georginio Wijnaldum] are ready to make the next step in their development as well.
“So Naby is in because he’s a really good footballer and I’ve said it from the beginning that he’s obviously settled really quick and has a similar style of play in a similar position as he did at Leipzig.
“He can play different positions of course, but I think No.8 is his best in the moment, so that’s all cool.
“He has a lot of help from the players around. Sadio [Mane] works really hard and the same with Gini and Millie and Robbo [Andrew Robertson] in this case, so that’s really good. I’m pleased, absolutely, but actually that’s what we expected.”
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