Manchester United youngster Zidane Iqbal has admitted that he loves watching Liverpool midfielder Thiago Alcantara.
Despite the animosity between the two clubs, Iqbal told GQ Middle East that the Liverpool star is a player he really looks up to.
“When I was young my dad used to put a lot of YouTube videos of Zinedine Zidane on at home. Now, I look up to Frenkie de Jong, I think he’s a brilliant player. And Thiago from Liverpool. I know he’s playing for Liverpool but you can still respect another person and how they play – he’s beautiful to watch,” gushed the 19-year-old.
Perhaps not something that will go down too well at Old Trafford, but he isn’t wrong! On form, there are few better players to watch than Liverpool’s No.6.
As a young midfielder hoping to make it in the Premier League, Iqbal would do well to learn from one of the masters.
Thiago struggling for rhythm at Liverpool
If Liverpool are to recover their league position to a respectable state, they’ll need Thiago at his best.
After his return from injury in September, that was something we saw for a time. But over the last few weeks, the 31-year-old has regressed a little.
Just like a number of his teammates, Thiago seems to be struggling to gain any kind of rhythm.
Even in the recent win over Manchester City, the Spain international couldn’t seem to unlock the game as usual.
It’s this kind of hit-and-miss form that has put his World Cup place in jeopardy. After being injured for too much of the last two years, he is currently unlikely to head to Qatar later this month.
That could be beneficial to Liverpool. Squeezing in more travel and more game time to an already packed calendar would be a risk for a player like Thiago.
As he’s undoubtedly Liverpool’s most important midfielder at present, Jurgen Klopp can’t afford to lose him.
Like some of his colleagues at Anfield, he’s a lot better than some of the outings we’ve seen from him recently. Hopefully that class will eventually tell on Liverpool’s season.
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