The midfielder, world class and a certified winner, is available and heavily linked to Liverpool, but is his potential transfer to Anfield one that fits with what the club have built under Jurgen Klopp?
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After seven seasons at Bayern Munich, Thiago Alcantara is sold on a new challenge. The club have ceded to all his demands on a new contract offer, but that has not been enough to sway the midfielder and with one year left on his existing deal, they will not lose him on a free next summer.
The 29-year-old is available.The Independent understands his camp see this as a “sensitive time” as he strategises his path forward.
Thiago has been overwhelmingly linked to Liverpool, largely through supposed word from Bayern’s dressing room that the Premier League champions are his destination of choice.
Jurgen Klopp has been an admirer of the player stretching back to his spell as Borussia Dortmund manager, but the list of talents he appreciates is an extensive one and doesn’t always equate to interest.
There have been zero talks between the clubs, as confirmed by Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. The CEO of the German giants is ready to do business if a “financially acceptable” offer arrives and sources in Germany indicate that the £30m valuation being reported is less than what is expected.
Liverpool have knocked down the talk on Thiago to The Independent and it would certainly be a transfer at odds with their recruitment strategy. Klopp, sporting director Michael Edwards and Fenway Sports Group president Mike Gordon have a chief tenet evolving from chaser to being chased: Do not get sucked into abandoning the principles that have got the club to this point.
Liverpool would have to whistle past a lot of red flags to make a significant financial outlay – transfer fee and wages – on Thiago in a coronavirus-affected market they have vowed to be more measured in.
He is undoubtedly world class and among the very best in his position. There are no asterisks over his quality. Even though Thiago’s age is above the profile Liverpool work off – the only core player signed under Klopp over the age of 25 has been the ‘transformer’ Virgil van Dijk – that would not count as a prohibitive issue given his ball retention and progression attributes.
His major asset is speed of thought with his genius centering around a cerebral understanding of play rather than a fleet of foot.
“You have to understand who you’re giving the ball to, if he’s left-footed or right-footed, and secondly to know the move,” Thiago explained to The Independent about the art of the pass in February. Continue reading