Liverpool’s new midfielder Naby Keita has finally arrived after a long wait of one year, and fans are already buzzing to see him in action alongside their other new signing, Fabinho.
Keita officially joined the club on 1 July and he has already sparked a controversy with his new tattoo.
As seen in some recent pictures, Keita has a “Rising Sun” tattoo on his left arm, which was a symbol of Japanese Imperialism before WW2.
Keita seems to have the Rising Sun Flag tattooed on his left arm (see pictures), some Japanese right-wing extremists display this flag at political protests. pic.twitter.com/LU3G8e9RqS
— Ste Carson (@sjrcarson) June 30, 2018
The Rising Sun symbol is still used by some Japanese Right-wing extremists at various political rallies.
Keita’s tattoo has not gone down well with many of the club’s Korean fans as both the present day Koreas were Japanese colonies before Japan was defeated by the United States during WW2.
The “Rising Sun” symbol has been compared with the infamous “Swastika” symbol of the Nazi party. One South Korean supporter even made this comparison and asked the club and player to do something regarding the same.
Everyone need to know about Naby Keita’s tattoo. Plz remember his tattoo is absolutely not different with “HAKENKREUZ.” Our South Korea Liverpool supports really hoping that club, Keita and other people will seriously consider about this problem #LFC @TonyBarrett @PeterMooreLFC pic.twitter.com/Os5VmAbUe9
— 오프로디테™ (@Ophrodite_0719) July 12, 2018
Neither Keita, nor the club has given any official clarification so far. The fans will be hoping that they do it soon because political situations can escalate very quickly into huge controversies.