Thiago will not return to the same Liverpool he signed for this season

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Thiago will return to a very different Liverpool. The Reds are not quite the same side he signed for back in September of this year.

When Liverpool signed Thiago for £20m, it was for a good reason. They wanted someone to add a new element to a title-winning team.

Thiago could come in as a technicaly, possession-based midfielder, something the Reds lacked. He’d be perfect for games where Liverpool dominate possession.

The Spaniard could play alongside Fabinho, Jordan Henderson, or Gini Wijnaldum. He could even sit as the deepest midfielder, thanks to the security of Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez behind him.

Oh how things can change.

All change

Thiago’s last game was against Everton at Goodison Park in mid-October. An awful ‘tackle’ from Richarlison left the 29-year-old with a bad knee injury and we haven’t seen him since.

So let’s have a little run-down of how things have changed since.

Van Dijk also picked up a knee injury in that game. We later found out that he had a very, very serious knee injury and likely won’t play again this season.

Then Gomez picked up a knee injury, too – he might return towards the end of the campaign but we don’t know yet.

Fabinho has become a centre-half, as a result. He now rarely plays in midfield but actually looks fantastic at the back.

Diogo Jota, who also joined Liverpool in September, played 12 minutes alongside Thiago in that Everton game. He had only started one Premier League match by that point, scoring one goal.

Since Thiago’s injury, Jota exploded into life, scoring eight times. But now he’s injured, too, and may not return until February.

Then the major positive – Curtis Jones. Few had a Jones/Thiago combination in mind when the Spaniard arrived. Now, though, it’s an exciting prospect that we’ll surely see.

Role change

As you can see, things aren’t quite the way Thiago left them. Liverpool now need him less as a way to make themselves unpredictable, and more because they need as many great players as they can get right now.

Thiago’s role will change, then. Instead of being a very interesting option, he could become the focus of the team.

And instead of playing with the defensive skill of Fabinho alongside him, Thiago will need to develop partnerships alongside Henderson, Jones and Gini Wijnaldum.

None of this is an overall negative. Really, Liverpool should find Thiago is a bit of a saviour on his return.

He can come in and inject more world-class talent into this side when they really need it. That could mean a shift to a new system or style – either way, expect Thiago to be at the forefront.