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Liverpool fans are still mourning the loss of £142million Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona.

But in the football-mad town of Koleya near the port city of Conakry in Guinea, the message to the Kop is: “Stay calm – Naby Keita is coming.”

On the impoverished streets of Koleya they believe Keita is going to be the biggest African star the Premier League has ever seen.

Bigger even than his idol Yaya Toure plus Didier Drogba, Kop team-mate-to-be Sadio Mane, George Weah, Kanu and Samuel Eto’o.

“I want to become the best African player in the world,” says Keita. “My idol from Africa is Toure. He is strong, works hard and has made it to the very top.”

(Image: REUTERS) (Image: AFP)

Proud dad Sekou calls him the “fruit of Africa” while locals he grew up with in Koleya say: “This football player is a gift from God.”

Keita, currently at RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga, is a torch-bearer for the people of Guinea and, even though the £60m transfer fee will give the youngster huge personal wealth with wages of £100,000 a week and more, he won’t forget his roots.

He said: “Becoming a Liverpool player will be very special, and a very important step in my ­career, but I won’t let fame go to my head. One should never forget where one comes from. My ­parents had nothing and sometimes life was very tough.

“I come from a poor family and from a country that’s also kind of poor.

“So when I visit Conakry on vacation now I buy sacks of rice and sugar for local people.

(Image: AFP)

“And I also donate money to victims of floods and help my friends and family too because I’m proud of where I am from.”

Keita’s rise from the shanty-town environment of Koleya is the kind of story which gives hope to thousands of football-crazy kids across Africa.

While plenty of his new Anfield team-mates will have been pampered and cosseted at plush academies, where an ­ample supply of new boots, training kits and hefty pay-packets are the order of the day, Keita hit the streets to hone his skills.

And the French-speaking star recalls how even cars driving down the road didn’t stop his street games growing up.

“When we were little we played in the middle of the street and even when cars passed by we wouldn’t stop playing,” Keita told Kick-Off in Germany. “It just meant we had to play smarter to avoid the cars and that helped you become better!

“In the street was where you learned your football, playing with boys and men much bigger, so I would say that I had to start to look out for myself.

(Image: Getty Images)

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“From very early on in my childhood I wanted to be a ­professional footballer.”

In a poverty-stricken town like Koleya, dreams of hitting the big time usually remain just that.

Even though Keita’s talent was special, his parents couldn’t see a way forward as they had no money to fund the gamble of sending him to Europe.

His father Sekou added: “I had always watched him play from a little boy and then people started to approach me about him. I told him that first he should go to school and learn and not just concentrate on being a footballer.

"I told him I didn’t have the financial means to send him to Europe to be a footballer, but maybe somebody could help.”

Mum Mariam Camara adds: “One day he came to me and said ‘Let me please play football, it’s my future’.

(Image: Adam Pretty)

“Everyone liked him, and ­people even contacted us and told us we should support our son if we could, but we just didn’t have the means to do that.”

Thankfully, Ali Bedara – a coach from Conakry – heard of Keita and started the ball rolling to get the 16-year-old to France.

Once there, he found himself at FC Istres – after failing trials at FC Lorient and Le Mans – and his journey to the Premier League was in full swing.

Red Bull Salzburg snapped him up and his career took off, leading to a move to the German Bundesliga with sister club RB Leipzig.

Eight goals in 31 games last season attracted interest from England, with Jurgen Klopp jumping in first to snap up the energetic star who will add speed, dynamism, graft and goals to Liverpool’s midfield.

(Image: AFP/Getty)

He’ll add aggression too – the tough-tackling Keita was sent off three times in seven games for Leipzig earlier this season.

Keita has also upset authorities off the pitch and faces a court case in Leipzig to reduce a huge £370,000 fine after allegedly producing a fake driving licence from Guinea to enable him to get a German licence.

The African star has also been accused of letting his Leipzig team-mates down because he has one eye on the Premier League – but he’s promising to give it everything in a Liverpool shirt when he gets to Anfield.

Keita said: “When I am on the field, I want to think that I am the best. It’s not for myself, it’s for the team.

“Once I do that, I can feel good.”