Liverpool signing Shaqiri makes it MORE likely they get Fekir

Many think that Liverpool signing Xherdan Shaqiri yesterday negatively impacts the chances of the club getting Nabil Fekir but it actually makes it MORE likely.

Within minutes of Liverpool signing Xherdan Shaqiri from Stoke City for £13.5 million yesterday the party poopers came out to throw a downer on the news. The chief complaint is that Shaqiri is a poor alternative for previous target Nabil Fekir and any hope of that deal happening has now vanished with the Swiss playmaker arriving at Anfield.

Putting the slights towards Shaqiri aside – he’s a very good signing in his own right – that thinking is just plain wrong. And it is easy to show otherwise.

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The news that Liverpool were interested in Shaqiri broke just before the ‘failed’ medical with Nabil Fekir. He was never alternative. He was simply another target. They did not pivot to the Swiss man out of disappointment or frustration. They always wanted them both.

Both those deals hit the pause button when the World Cup started. Obviously those players were fixed (Fekir still is) on their countries. The moment the tournament was over for Shaqiri they picked up where they left off and got the deal done 10 days after Switzerland were knocked out.

Fekir finishes on Sunday but the situation is very different; it requires a renegotiation with both Lyon and the player in the light of his knee trouble. That will likely take longer than 10 days and may not work at all. But the signs are Liverpool will return to talks.

A number of French sources are claiming that those negotiations are imminent at the end of the World Cup.

One indication that this will happen is the signing of Shaqiri. If the Fekir was 100% over then I think the plans change for Shaqiri too. The £60+ million would have been spent on two or three players (Moses Simon, Tanguy Ndombele & Julian Brandt?) to fulfill the requisite flexibility that both Fekir and Shaqiri bring together. Getting both covers all attacking and midfield positions except DM.

Next: Shaqiri arriving means Liverpool exit for 24-year-old

I think bringing in Shaqiri is great news for the possibility of Nabil Fekir coming too; it shows that the summer transfer plans are still on track, if a little behind schedule. And as others have noted, the club did not let Shaqiri have the number 10 shirt – he took number 23 instead. Coutinho’s successor to the number is still to arrive…