Liverpool legend Xabi Alonso is still pulling strings for the club, it seems, after he revealed he spoke to Thiago to convince him to join the club two years ago.
Alonso controlled the Liverpool midfield for five years in the 2000s, scoring in the famous 2005 Champions League final victory and gaining a reputation for scoring more than the odd spectacular goal during his time at the club.
He then moved on to play with Real Madrid (where he won another Champions League), before finishing his career with Bayern Munich.
During his time at Bayern, he played alongside current Liverpool midfielder Thiago Alcantara. Alonso revealed in an interview with the Liverpool website that he was partly to thank for convincing Thiago to join the club in the summer of 2020.
Xabi Alonso told Thiago to join Liverpool
Thiago took a while to settle in Liverpool, but he became an essential part of their midfield during last year's quest for the quadruple, scoring one of their goals of the season in the Champions League group stages against Porto.
THAT Thiago Alcántara goal! 🔥
These angles - it just gets better & better 🤤@Thiago6 | @LFC | #UCL pic.twitter.com/8rjXOQvwWi— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) November 26, 2021
His move from Bayern two summers ago was one of the biggest transfer coups of Jurgen Klopp's rein - and Xabi Alonso explained that he helped convince the Spaniard to join the club:
You could see [at Bayern] that he's a different player. He's a different talent because he's competitive but at the same time he has those magic Brazilian actions that are not European. He's competitive but he can do different things. He was a great player at Bayern and he continues being consistent and being a great player at Liverpool.
We talked a lot that summer [2020] because he was thinking about the option. I said, 'Thiago, you love football, you're in a great club, you're in Bayern and you've achieved great things, but Liverpool is pure football and you're going to enjoy it as much as you have done.
If you feel it's the right moment for a new chapter, you won't get better places than Liverpool.
Liverpool fans will be thrilled to hear that a club legend played such a pivotal role in bringing Thiago to Anfield. He has significantly boosted the club's midfield, and his absence is being sorely felt as Liverpool stumble through the opening stages of this season.
Alonso went on to say that his push to get Thiago to join Liverpool came from his love for the club, saying "once a Red, always a Red."
For Jurgen Klopp and co. at Anfield, they will hope to see Thiago back in the Liverpool midfield when they return to Premier League action on October 1 against Brighton.
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