With Thiago Alcantara ruled out for the rest of the season, many fans have started to question what the future holds for the Spaniard with just one year left on his contract.
Since joining the Reds in 2020, the midfielder has missed a staggering 65 games through injury and along with Naby Keita has seriously contributed to Liverpool’s shallow depth in the middle of the pitch.
This is a major reason behind some supporters questioning whether the club should cash in on the midfielder this summer rather than losing him on a free transfer next year.
Personally, I’m a massive fan of Thiago and think that he is one of the most talented footballers we have ever had at the club.
However, at the age of 32-years-old and rumoured to be earning approximately £225,ooo a week, it could be a smart move both financially and on the pitch to look at possible options.
Fitness is undoubtedly the reason behind this thought process behind some supporters, with the Spaniard averaging to miss one game for every game he’s available for selection.
To really emphasise this point, the player Thiago replaced in Jurgen Klopp’s squad was Gini Wijnaldum who averaged 38 games before missing one through injury.
This sort of drop off in minutes and appearances is the major reason behind our recent reliance on the likes of Stefan Bajcetic, Harvey Elliott and Curtis Jones.
It would be interesting to see what the club would do if Barcelona acted on their recent interest in the midfielder and offered £25million, for example.
However, Liverpool are already set to lose three midfielders with James Milner, Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain all expected to leave upon the expiry of the current contract in June.
If you were to add Thiago to that list of departures, you would be left with just two experienced midfielders at the club in Jordan Henderson and Fabinho.
That duo would be joined by youngsters in Elliott, Bajcetic and Jones as the only midfielders at the club.
Overall, what I would look to do with Thiago would be to try and extend his current deal by a year so it would end in 2025 rather than 2024.
This would maintain some form of value in the player and the club could look to move him on for a transfer fee at the end of next season rather than letting him leave for free.
I fear that letting him leave this season would only increase the pressure on the club to get this huge rebuild correct.
Disagree, as you pointed out he’s on big wages, get some money for him now. While his stock is at its best. FSG must be prepared to spend, after all they’ve been quite shy on spending. My view is they should look for new owners, it’s not cheap running a top Premier league club, fsg don’t want to spend, which they need to if they want their club to stay a top club.