Manchester United legend Paul Scholes is not convinced Thiago Alcantara is the right fit for Liverpool, suggesting he could do better at Old Trafford instead.
The Spain international joined Liverpool from Bayern Munich in the summer but hasn’t got off to the most convincing start to life at Anfield.
Of course, many top players have struggled to settle in the Premier League, but Scholes also believes he just doesn’t look ideally suited to Klopp’s style of play at Liverpool.
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“The way Liverpool play with the three in midfield, I don’t think he has great legs about him, so that central role would suit him down to the ground,” Scholes is quoted by the Metro.
“Once you are in a wider position in the three, it’s very difficult to get around the pitch because he’s not that type of player. He’s not someone who is going to be running out to a left-back. It’s just not his game.
“He just needs to be sat in the middle. Controlling things, bringing players into play and that’s what he’s good at – I just wonder if this way of playing that Liverpool play is suited to his style of football.
“He doesn’t seem a Jurgen Klopp type player, does he? You think of the midfield players he has got and the forward players. Everything is 100 miles per hour.
“I thought he would have been more suited to a Manchester United team. In a two in midfield with a holding player, really good strong defensive player, where he can sit and control games.
“Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool, I don’t see them controlling games. I see them going for the throat in teams. He hasn’t got that energy to really overpower midfield players.”
This is a damning statement to be making about such a top player who will have looked such an exciting signing when he first moved to Merseyside.
Alcantara enjoyed a great career at Bayern Munich, and played a starring role in their success just last season, looking one of the stand-out players in their Champions League final victory.
It might be that he’ll soon find his feet at Liverpool, but perhaps he just isn’t going to shine under Klopp’s specific playing style.
We’ll probably never know how he would have fared at Man Utd, but he definitely looks like he could’ve given them something different in the middle of the park, perhaps as a superior option over Donny van de Beek, who hasn’t played much this season.