Mandela Keita

Lamine Mandela Keita (born 10 May 2002) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for club Parma and the Belgium national team. Club career Keita debuted for OH Leuven on 21 March 2021 in the away match against Mechelen. Due to injury and lengthy recovery, Keita spent most of the first half of the 2022–23 season on the bench.

During the winter 2022–23 transfer window, Keita was loaned to Antwerp to get more playing time, with a 10 million Euro buy clause. At Antwerp, Keita played regularly and scored his first professional league goal as Antwerp became league champions for the first time in 66 years.

Keita was selected as part of the Belgium U21 squad for the 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship. He returned to OHL in the summer of 2023, where he had a contract until 2025. Antwerp wanted to continue with Keita and after months of negotiations, and after Keita began appearing in the OH Leuven shirt, he was loaned again to Antwerp on 10 August 2023 for a full season, again with an estimated 7-8 million Euro buy clause.

On 30 August 2024, Keita moved to Parma in Italy.

International career Born in Belgium, Keita is of Guinean descent. He represented Guinea at youth international level, having played for the Belgium U21s.

In October 2023, he received his first call-up to the Belgium senior national team for the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying matches against Austria and Sweden.

Career statistics

Club

Honours Royal Antwerp Belgian Pro League: 2022–23 Belgian Cup: 2022–23