Liverpool is officially the 2019/20 Premier League champion, with the Reds winning their first national league title in 30 years, in what has been an extraordinary season.
So with an incredible Premier League title secured, how can Liverpool improve their squad before next season? Well, if you believe the reports, Bayern Munich midfielder Thiago Alcantara could join the Reds in the next transfer window, with the Spanish international’s contract on the Bavarian giants expiring at the end of next season.
The 29-year-old went through the famous Barcelona La Masia academy and played with city manager Pep Guardiola, before moving to Bayern at the same time as Guardiola in 2013, helping them win 14 major trophies at the time.
The Spaniard is widely regarded as one of the best midfielders in world football, with world-class technical skills, but would he fit into a Jurgen Klopp team?
And what kind of impact could it have on Liverpool if he signed?
We used Football Manager 2020 to have a little fun and see what could happen if Liverpool sign Thiago this summer.
Thiago ‘signs’ for Liverpool in 2020
To set up this simulation, we started Football Manager 2020, then opened the editor and arranged for Bayern Munich midfielder Thiago to join the club for £ 30 million on July 1, 2020. We obtained this value from the transfer valuation established by the Observatory Soccer, since he only has one year left in his contract with Bayern.
Obviously, transfers may not occur during this date in real life, but this is the best way to get an accurate simulation of your performance for the club throughout an entire campaign.
Then we simulated two entire seasons in the game, to see what kind of impact the former Barcelona midfielder could have on Liverpool. This is what Thiago’s profile looks like in Football Manager 2020 in July 2020, with all its attributes shown in the following screenshot.
The Spanish international is a world-class midfielder with supreme technical ability, but how would he fit on Jurgen Klopp’s side?
In the 2020/21 season, with Thiago’s signature assured …
Thiago’s 2020/21 season for Liverpool
Thiago was definitely a regular first-team player, but he wasn’t nailed as a starter, particularly in the league, with Jurgen Klopp opting to rotate the Spanish, Gini Wijnaldum, Jordan Henderson and Naby Keita in the two most advanced positions in midfield. in a 4 -3-3. That’s kind of midfield depth!
Let’s take a closer look at Thiago’s season stats for 2020/21.
The former Barcelona teacher made 38 appearances for the club in all competitions, with 24 of them in the Premier League, of which 21 were starts.
So he appeared in most, but not all, of the Liverpool league games. However, Klopp played Thiago regularly in Europe and in the FA Cup. In the 40 appearances, Thiago recorded eight assists and scored four goals, earning an average match rating of 7.06 in all competitions.
When you dig deeper into the stats, you can see that Thiago one was one of the team’s top creators, with just Sadio Mane creating more opportunities and recording more assists, and in far fewer appearances, no less.
So despite making few appearances, Thiago created more opportunities for his teammates than Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Trent Alexander-Arnold. What Liverpool had bought was an excellent creative midfielder at his peak.
As such, this is how Liverpool’s statistically top eleven looked at the end of the 2020/21 season.
Curtis Jones and Rhian Brewster broke into the Klopp first team, with Joe Gómez establishing himself as Van Dijk’s defensive teammate, while Thiago lined up in midfield three with Wijnaldum and Fabinho.
So how did Liverpool perform in all competitions with Thiago on the team?
Liverpool 2020/21 season
Well, that’s good news, because in our FM2020 simulation, Liverpool won the Premier League for the second consecutive season in 2020/21, earning 92 points and being defeated just four times, finishing three points ahead of Man City.
But there was no such good news in the Champions League, as Barcelona took revenge on Jurgen Klopp’s team in the semifinal, despite scoring a goal as a visitor at the Camp Nou.
The Reds made it to the Carabao Cup quarterfinals, although Klopp mainly played with his younger players in the competition.
But Liverpool completed a national double, winning the FA Cup with a win over Arsenal in the final, with Jordan Henderson scoring a late winner.
So, Football Manager 2020 predicts that Thiago would be an excellent signing for Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool before the 2020/21 season, with the Spaniard becoming a key part of the Reds team that retained the Premier League title and won the Cup. FA.
Based on their performances in our simulation, Thiago would become the team’s main creative force from midfield, giving the team a new attack dynamic, adding to what is already a world-class Liverpool team.
As always, these sims are a bit fun, but it’s always interesting to see what this football management simulation game predicts – in this case, if Liverpool really signs Thiago before next season.
Would you take the signing of Thiago at Liverpool?
With his transfer value probably attractive, given the circumstances and his contract, Thiago would be a very good signing for the club, according to Football Manager 2020 at least.
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