‘No brainer’ Thiago Alcantara must be the next Liverpool signing

Liverpool must sign Thiago Alcantara next.

It’s happening. For all the talk that this transfer window was set to be another quiet one for Liverpool, the club have actually set about completing a detailed strategical plan with the aim of plugging some visible weaknesses within the squad.

For weeks now I have been reading that no significant business will be done only to see a rejected bid for Norwich left-back Jamal Lewis quickly followed by the signing of Greek international Kostas Tsimikas.

It may not be the massive signing that some fans had hoped for, but it does signal that Liverpool are ready to spend and ready to strengthen but are in no mood to negotiate. It means that more business will surely be done in the coming weeks with an experienced center-back on the list to replace the departed Dejan Lovren.

There is also talk of exciting Brazilian prospect, Talles Mango, being brought in on the cheap as cover for the front three. However, while buying players with bags of potential at reduced prices seems to be the order of the day there is one rumor that simply won’t go away and it is confusing many of the Liverpool faithful.

So why should we sign Thiago Alcantara?

On the face of it, I get why fans some fans might be unsure if we need Thiago or if he even fits the FSG transfer policy. While there is no doubt that he has bags of technical ability our midfield is already packed with a different mold of player.

Hard grafters such as Jordan Henderson, James Milner, Fabinho, Gini Wijnaldum, and now Curtis Jones have already made us damn near impossible to beat. The Spanish international has also had his fair share of injury problems and at 29-years-old you have to think that his best years are already here.

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All of these things automatically put question marks over the potential move with the consensus among many experts being that Thiago won’t fit the Jurgen Klopp style of play, that his work rate and ability to close down space are questionable all of which are musts in a Klopp midfield.

But to me, this is an unfair criticism of a player that offers far more to a team than silky skills and outrageous passing ability. People forget that Pep Guardiola once said “it’s Thiago or nothing,” when he made the midfielder his first signing after taking over at Bayern Munich and if there is one thing that Pep asks of all his players it’s the ability or more importantly the desire to press and win the ball back early.

Thiago may not crunch into tackles like a Fabinho or Henderson but he has a fantastic football brain. He understands his role and can read situations quicker than most. In fact, statistically, Thiago is superior defensively than many of the current Liverpool midfield as he averages 2.3 tackles per game which is just shy of the 2.6 average set by Fabinho and Henderson, but he also averages 2.3 interceptions, which is higher than any other Liverpool player.

But it’s his ability to keep the ball under pressure that really makes him stand out from the current Liverpool squad.

If there is one criticism that can be thrown at the reds midfield it’s their tendency to get sloppy and give the ball away cheaply when we come up against teams with a low defensive block.

This has been more prevalent since the return of football after the COVID-19 lockdown with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, in particular, being pinpointed. Thiago Alcantara has a pass completion rate of 90.5% which is level with Wijnaldum but 5% higher than the rest of Jurgen Klopp’s midfield.

He also offers the ability to break lines with moments of magical skill and a turn of pace that I am sure will surprise many of the Anfield faithful, which is something we haven’t seen since Philippe Coutinho sold us out for Barcelona.

And the price?  Surely it’s a no brainer. Even if you have to restrict him to 30 games a season to take care of his body then what an amazing option to have for those 30 games.

Thiago will offer us something a little bit different and signing him will signal to the rest of the league that we are attacking the upcoming Premier League campaign with all we’ve got.