Having won the Champions League last season, and run away with the Premier League this year, it’s difficult to really make an argument for how Liverpool can genuinely make the kind of signing that could improve their starting eleven.
After all, the Reds have won the two biggest trophies on offer, and last summer saw them didn’t even make a big splash in the transfer market either.
But reports in recent days have suggested that Bayern Munich midfielder Thiago could be set for a move to Anfield, with negotiations between both the player and the club at a very advanced stage and that “only the economics have to be worked out between the two sides”.
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If Jurgen Klopp’s side can manage to pull off a deal for the Spain international, then it could be the kind of signing that just gives them with that added creative spark in the middle of the park.
Having come through the Barcelona academy, and then playing for the first-team there and then moving to Bayern Munich, Thiago has played for teams that have dominated the ball, and that’s shown by the quite ridiculous passing averages he has managed.
Even this season, where he has not featured as regularly, he averages a whopping 74.9 passes per game at an astonishing accuracy of 90.5% in the Bundesliga. In comparison, Jordan Henderson is the Liverpool midfielder with the most amount of passes, and his average is at just 62.2 and an accuracy of 84.5%.
Thiago is someone who can control the tempo of the game and dictate the play, and it’s not the kind of player the Reds currently have in their arsenal. It could potentially change the way Liverpool attack, ensuring that they perhaps don’t have to rely upon counter-attacks led by the likes of Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane up top.
And with Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola signing him for Bayern, and then wanting him again as Citizens boss last summer, what a hammer blow that could be if Klopp ends up bringing him to Anfield instead.
Having just beaten them to the Premier League title rather comprehensively, Klopp can send out another major statement of intent by luring one of Guardiola’s former targets to the club.
It would be the kind of psychological advantage that Liverpool can take into the new season, and a reminder of why they are at the top of the totem pole now, and not City.
