Reds gaffer Jurgen Klopp is convinced that Thiago Alcantara remains on course to prove his very best to the Liverpool FC fanbase who are yet to see the Spaniard live up to their expectations since his Anfield switch the previous summer.
The midfield maestro arrived on Merseyside last summer in a much-anticipated transfer from Bayern Munich but has not enjoyed the debut season he would have wanted in the Liverpool FC shirt with injuries and the club’s woeful form all playing a part.
However, in his interview with the club’s official website ahead of the Reds playing hosts to Southampton on Saturday evening, Jurgen Klopp sounded out assurances that Thiago had established himself to be an integral player in the Anfield camp and is in line to display the best of him in the very near future.
“Thiago, in a really difficult season, has become a very important player for us.”
“That is the most important thing you can say about him.
“He started really well, then got a bad injury and an annoying one as well because it took really long [to heal] then he came back into the team that is not really clicking.
“As a football player, he works a lot and is a good, hard-working guy, but he comes rather from the technical side and was used to different patterns Bayern Munich and all these kinds of things, so it is not just a year where a new signing shines, especially in midfield.
“For Diogo [Jota] it was a little easier in situations even though he had an injury as well, because he finished chances and was not so much involved in creating.
“But creating is the moment where a lot of things have to come together and that is why it was difficult for Thiago, but we are completely happy with him.
“We will see the best of him. I don’t think we saw it already, but that is not a problem.
“We are 100 per cent convinced we will get the best out of him because he is a world-class player.”
Thiago’s performances in his long-serving stint at Bayern Munich had made him one of the most influential midfield players in world football but the Reds supporters have not seen this side of the Spaniard’s style of play nearly a year into his transfer to the Merseysiders.
In the 20 Premier League outings made so far by the 30-year-old, he is yet to register a single goal or assist to his name, despite having put a series of solid shifts in the centre of the park.
