Jurgen Klopp would now prefer to keep Xherdan Shaqiri, according to reports. Liverpool supposedly tried to sell the player ahead of the season.
This comes from the Liverpool Echo. They claim that Jurgen Klopp wants to keep Xherdan Shaqiri at the club beyond the January transfer window.
The Liverpool boss supposedly doesn’t want to go all-in on the front-four of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Diogo Jota. Instead, he ‘would prefer’ to have Shaqiri there as an option, too.
This comes just months after the Reds reportedly tried to sell Shaqiri. The same outlet claims Liverpool wanted £20m for the Swiss winger but clearly found no suitors.
On top of that, the club apparently prioritised keeping Harry Wilson over Shaqiri – something that didn’t work out either.
It appears now, though, that Shaqiri will stay far longer than he was supposed to.
What RTK has to say
Liverpool’s injury crisis likely changed Klopp’s perspective on a squad player like Shaqiri. There’s no way he’ll want to rely on just four first-team forwards now.
Just look at the situation at centre-half. The Reds went into the season with three first-choice options for two places. In a flash, two of those are out long-term and Klopp has to shift things about, trying to make the team work.
He won’t want a similar situation up top.
Thus keeping Shaqiri is undoubtedly the smart thing to do, even if he’s injury-prone himself.
The Swiss hasn’t really had an extended period of consistent games since soon after his £13m arrival. Having him around ‘just in case’ makes complete sense, though.
We’ve already seen him chip in with a couple of decent performances this season, after all. Another few of those post-January and there’s no chance Liverpool would regret hanging on to him.
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