Keita Baldéz

Keita Baldé Diao (born 8 March 1995), commonly known as Keita, is a Spanish-born Senegalese professional footballer who plays as a winger for Monaco. Born in Spain, he decided to represent Senegal, his father's country of origin.

Club career

Early career

Born in Arbúcies, Girona, Catalonia, to Senegalese parents, Keita came up through the FC Barcelona's youth academy. In 2010, Keita travelled with the Barcelona youth team to Qatar for a tournament, where he played a practical joke by placing an ice-cube in a teammate's bed.

As a punishment, Barcelona sent the 15-year-old Keita on loan to satellite club UE Cornellà, despite Keita's reputation as a future prospect for the first team. The loan meant Cornellà held the rights to a fraction of Keita's playing rights. After a season in which he scored 47 goals for Cornellà's youth side, Keita turned down the chance to return to Barcelona, attracting the interest of Real Madrid and Manchester United.

Lazio

In the summer of 2011, Keita was signed by Serie A club Lazio for a €300,000 transfer fee, of which 10% went to Cornellà. Keita was unable to play official matches for Lazio's youth sides for a year, as he had to wait to be granted Spanish citizenship and the EU passport required for the Italian club to register him. However, he impressed while playing in the Torneo Karol Wojtyla youth competition, where he scored six goals in just four matches.

Keita then spent the 2012–13 season playing with Lazio's Primavera youth side and training with the first team. He was selected by head coach Vladimir Petković to sit on the bench for some matches in the latter part of the season but did not make his senior debut.

Promoted to the first team for the following season, Keita made his league debut in a 3–0 home win against Chievo at the Stadio Olimpico on 15 September 2013, coming on as a late substitute for Luis Pedro Cavanda. Five days later, Keita made his debut in the Europa League group stage match against Legia Warsaw, starting and providing the match's only goal scored by Hernanes. On 10 November 2013, he scored his first senior goal in a 1–1 draw against Parma.

On 18 August 2015, Keita came off the bench to score the only goal of the game as Lazio beat Bayer Leverkusen 1–0 in the first leg of their Champions League play-off at the Stadio Olimpico.

Keita fully established himself in the starting lineup in the 2016–17 season, scoring his first goal of the season in Serie A matchday 6 against Empoli at home. On 6 March of the following year, Keita made his 100th Serie A appearance in the 2–0 win at Bologna. Later on 23 April, Keita scored his maiden hat-trick, contributing in Lazio's 6–2 thrashing of Palermo, taking his tally up to 11 goals, reaching double figures for the first time in his career. He completed the hat-trick in five minutes, making it the fastest hat-trick scored in Serie A since 1974–75 season. One week later, in the Derby della Capitale against Roma for the matchday 34, Keita scored a brace, as Lazio won 3–1, the first win in the league against them since November 2012. He also become the first Lazio player to score a brace in the derby since Roberto Mancini in 1998–99 season.

AS Monaco

On 29 August 2017, Keita joined Monaco on a five-year contract for a reported €30 million (US$35.9 million) transfer fee. He was assigned the number 14 shirt vacated by Tiémoué Bakayoko, who left for Chelsea earlier that summer. On 21 October 2017, Keita opened the scoring in the 2–0 Ligue 1 home win over Caen to register his first competitive Monaco goal after playing seven matches in all competitions for the club.

Internazionale Milano

On 13 August 2018, Keita signed for Internazionale on loan of €6 million with a €30 million option to buy at the end of the season.

International career

Keita was born in Spain to Senegalese parents. Although he was eligible to play for Spain, he chose to play for his parents' country, Senegal, being called up by their manager, Aliou Cissé, for the match against Niger for 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification Group K. He made his debut for Senegal in a 2–0 win over Niger as a late substitute. He also played a friendly match with the Catalonia national team in December 2015 against Basque Country.

In May 2018, Keita was named in Senegal's 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

Personal life

His younger brother Ibourahima Baldé is also a football player.

As a child, Keita supported Inter Milan and has credited Samuel Eto'o for being his childhood idol.

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 20 January 2020

• 1.^ Includes Coppa Italia and Coupe de France.
• 2.^ Includes Coupe de la Ligue.
• 3.^ Includes UEFA Champions League qualification and Supercoppa Italiana.

International

As of matches played on 27 July 2019

International goals

Scores and results list Senegal's goal tally first.