Liverpool legend Dietmar Hamann has warned against the hype over Thiago Alcantara, telling talkSPORT ‘the jury is out’ over whether the midfielder will be a hit at Anfield.
The mood on Merseyside has reached fever pitch, with the Spaniard arriving from Bayern Munich in a deal worth up to £27million [€30m].
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Fans are excited about the 29-year-old’s signing, especially after watching his performances at the tail-end of last season as he helped Bayern win the Champions League.
Thiago impressed playing in a deeper role in the later stages of the German club’s European run, while his creativity is something Jurgen Klopp believes can take his team onto even greater heights.
But Hamann surprised talkSPORT when he joined us to talk about the deal.
The former Germany international revealed, despite the current hype surrounding him, that Thiago was never considered a key player in the Bayern side.
In fact, he says Thiago only played in the Champions League games due to injuries in the squad, which forced manager Hansi Flick to select him in a deeper role.
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Hamann, a Champions League winner with Liverpool in 2005, admits the Spaniard did impress in that position, but has big doubts over whether he’ll be a hit in the Premier League.
And he believes there’s a chance Thiago could be another Naby Keita, who has struggled for form and consistency since his £52m arrival from RB Leipzig in 2018.
“Bayern Munich would have preferred to keep him of course, but having said that, he’s been there seven years and he probably played his best game for the club in his last one, the Champions League final,” he told talkSPORT.
“We always knew he was a good footballer but there was never a time in the seven years where you said, ‘you can’t think of the team without Thiago’.
“As it was now with [Thomas] Muller being back in form and [Leon] Goretzka coming into the team, if everybody was fit towards the end of the season Thiago wouldn’t have played. He only played because [Benjamin] Pavard couldn’t play in the final and [Joshua] Kimmich had to play right-back.
“So I’m not too sure… The game in England is a lot quicker than Germany. If he thinks he can’t be pressed, than good luck to him.
“He’s 29 now, he’s coming to a different country and a different type of football, I think we’ve seen that with the debuts of [Timo] Werner and [Kai] Havertz at Chelsea and how difficult they found it playing against Brighton.
“Yes, he’s a brilliant footballer, but the thing with Thiago is I always felt box-to-box is a great thing if you can do it, but you’ve got to contribute either defensively or offensively; and he’s not a goalscorer so he wont get you an awful lot of goals, and then the number ten role doesn’t really exist at Liverpool with their front-three.
“I’m intrigued about where he’s going to play, I think he adds something else to Liverpool because he’s got a lot more creatively that the guys in midfield they’ve got now, but these guys have done a brilliant job in the last few years.
“He adds something extra, but I think the jury is still out whether he is that player they think or are told he is.
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“We’ve seen it with Keita, who is a brilliant player, but he’s been there two years now and he hasn’t really arrived at Liverpool. They were talking about possibly moving him on in the summer.
“I’m not saying it’ll be a similar story, but I’ll be interested to see how he does and how Klopp plays him because I never really saw him as a holding midfielder because you need a bit of defensive thinking to play in that role.
“He did a brilliant job in the position in the final against Paris, but he’s not really a defence-minded player.
“I’m not too sure. He’s a great player, but whether he suits the English game, it think that remains to be seen.”
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