Thiago Alcantara has claimed that he’s been trying to help Darwin Nunez during training sessions at Liverpool.
Speaking to liverpoolfc.com, the 31-year-old outlined how he’s taken it upon himself to ensure Nunez settles in at the club.
“You start to know a new lad coming in our team. You always want that he is happy in the team, happy with us, happy and confident with himself,” said Thiago. “I think he (Nunez) turned over this first adaptation with these four goals and it’s important for him and important for us.
“At one point in our life we were the young guy in the team and someone helped us. So you use that experience to help the young players that come. Because of the language I try to help him as much as I can and make him part of our sessions and our team.”
Thiago passing on his wealth of knowledge
How lucky we are to have this man at our club. His £20m fee in 2020 looks like more and more of a bargain every day.
Not only is he a supreme player, but he appears to be a great teammate who has really thrown himself into the club.
It’s brilliant that with all his experience, he is willing to pass on some of the knowledge of those he learnt alongside in the past.
Just look at the list of players who Thiago has called teammates at one point or another. There are those from the mighty Barcelona side of the early 2010’s – Xavi, Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, David Villa and of course the great Lionel Messi.
At Bayern he played with legends such as Xabi Alonso, Arjen Robben, Franck Ribery and Robert Lewandowski.
Now, at Liverpool, the Spaniard is alongside modern-day greats such as Virgil Van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Alisson Becker. The maestro has had one of the great careers of modern times, and is willing to pass on that knowledge to younger, more inexperienced teammates.
For now, there’s no suggestion that Thiago is anything other than thoroughly happy at Liverpool. His contract runs until 2024 and at the moment, the expectation is probably that he will see that out and leave shortly after his 33rd birthday.
Still, how good would it be to see the Spain international extend his terms beyond that date. Klopp has two years beyond that on his current deal, how he could use Thiago’s nous within the squad for the remainder of those years.
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