On Monday, the transfer of Seydou Keita from Sevilla to FC Barcelona was completed as he signed a 4-year contract (which is said to have a €90 million buy-out clause), with Barcelona believed to have paid Keita's buy-out clause of €14 million to Sevilla. Seydou Keita, cousin of Juventus’ Momo Sissoko, is Barça’s first signing for the 2008-09 season, and is expected to shore up the midfield.
Upon joining the club Keita said “For everybody, Barça is a great club, a team everyone wants to play for. I was lucky enough to come to Spain with Sevilla, which is also a great club, a club that gave me everything and helped me grow. Now I’m in Barcelona and I’m very happy but I’m very grateful to all the Sevilla directors and to the fans, who have always supported me. But in life you have to make choices. I’m sad to leave Sevilla, but at the same time I’m very happy to sign for Barcelona, because it’s an option that you can’t turn down even though you’ve had everything at Sevilla. The truth is I’m very happy to be here because it’s what I’ve always wanted”.
Keita began his professional career in France, spending three season with Olympique de Marseille and FC Lorient, before moving on to Lens for five season, where he ascended to the captaincy and truly broke out as a world-class player. Keita scored 19 goals in 156 games, peaking in 2006-2007, when he scored 11 goals in 37 games, and emerged as one of the premier players in France. In July 2007, Keita was sold to Sevilla, with whom he signed a four-year contract (is there a bigger joke in world football today than these “contracts”). In 31 league games for Sevilla, Keita played fantastically and managed to score four goals, adding another in a Champions League victory over Arsenal, putting him on the radar of several top European clubs.
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