OFFICIAL: AWOL African star hit with big suspension in Europe

An African star has officially been slapped with a lengthy suspension by his European club after reportedly going AWOL. 

Bundesliga side Werder Bremen have announced their decision to suspend former Liverpool midfielder Naby Keita until the end of the season, as well as hand him a "considerable fine".

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Die Werderaner also confirmed in a statement that the player will in no way be a part of the first team.

This comes after Keita's absence for the team's 5-0 loss to Bayer Leverkusen over the weekend.

The Bundesliga side claimed that he had decided against travelling with the rest of the squad to the BayArena once he found out he would not be in the starting XI and instead opted to go home.

While the Guinea international later took to social media to defend himself by stating that he "will not accept any person trying to tarnish my image", the club has taken a firm stance against his absence. 

Werder Bremen's head of professional football, Clemens Fritz, explained the reasoning behind the decision.

"As a club, we won't tolerate Naby's behaviour. He let his team down in a time of difficulty surrounding our recent run of form and squad availability, and put his own interests above those of the team," he said. 

"We can't allow that. At this stage of the season, we need full focus on the remaining games and a team who stick together. That's why we've been left with no alternative."

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The Green-Whites currently occupy 12th spot on the Bundesliga table with 31 points after recording just one point in their past five matches.