Thiago Alcantara plan has failed and next move for forgotten Liverpool man appears obvious

This week’s Blood Red column assesses the Liverpool future of Thiago Alcantara as his injury nightmare gets set to extend into 2024

For all the excitement and optimism around Liverpool’s midfield, it was an update given on Friday that will have brought up some unwanted deja vu for Jurgen Klopp.

While Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister, Ryan Gravenberch and Wataru Endo have given a new coat of paint to what was a decaying engine room, the latest news around Thiago Alcantara was something more in line with the frustrations of last season, when injury issues were never too far away from the conversation.

“Thiago is an ongoing thing,” Klopp said. “We cannot put any pressure in there as well.. But we expect him to be back, I would probably say start of the New Year.”

It was a hammer blow to those who had been patiently waiting a positive update on the former Bayern Munich and Barcelona midfielder. It was initially thought Thiago would be in line to start the season fully fit after the decision for him to go under the knife to correct a hip issue was brought forward at the beginning of May.

After Liverpool weighed up their options, it was decided they would rather have him flying out the traps for the beginning of this term rather than him soldering on for the end of the last one, with it becoming apparent that top-four hopes were slipping out of sight. That was the strategy, at least.

The plan to get the classy Thiago up to speed as a vital part of the new-look midfield, however, has fallen hopelessly flat. His last start came nine months ago today and his most recent involvement was a half-hour cameo at West Ham in April.

The opportunistic deal to sign the then 29-year-old Thiago from Bayern Munich in September 2020 was one that broke with tradition for Klopp and he arrived as one of the most decorated players the club had ever signed.

Liverpool viewed him as one of the finest central midfielders on the continent at the time and believed the chance to sign him was too good to pass up.

And while his elegant, press-resistant style draws gasps and earns approval, getting him in a position to contribute consistently has been the major problem. His quality is beyond reproach but his durability is sadly not.

The adaptations of Gravenberch, Mac Allister and most notably Szoboszlai mean the overreliance on Thiago is no longer there and that, theoretically, should help when it comes to easing the workload of a player who is now slowly feeling his way back.

But while the hope was to allow Thiago a more relenting schedule that would allow him to sprinkle his stardust more sparingly, Liverpool have been unable to utilise his unique gifts at all as we hurtle towards the November international break. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.

As one of the highest earners at the club, his general availability was already a problem before this latest stretch of absence. In his three seasons to date, he has never made more than 25 Premier League appearances and featured just 18 times last time out.

“It’s now already November,” Klopp added. in his Friday press conference. “That would mean another four weeks, I would say that is probably realistic thing to try. I can’t wait to have him back.

“The player is just exceptional. I understand why you ask but we can’t have a week by week update because it will not change a lot in this moment.”

A January return means it will be 11 months since he last started a game upon his eventual comeback. By then, there’s a real concern over how much he will be able to help a team who, all things being well, will be firmly in the hunt for a slew of major honours at the turn of 2024.

His decision to snub initial overtures from Saudi Arabia over the summer was taken in the belief that he still had a sizable role to play at Anfield. So far, that has yet to materialise for a high-profile player who is becoming the forgotten man of Liverpool’s midfield.