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Gini Wijnaldum out, Bavaria’s Thiago Alcantara in? Why Liverpool’s midfield situation is more complex than it seems

Alcantara is in the same contract situation with Bayern – one year before his graduation and available for a Bosman next year – with the difference that the new European champion has offered him a long-term contract and desperately wants him to stay.

As Wijnaldum prepares for the upcoming season with a future and the present in mind, Liverpool have persistently downplayed interest in Alcantara about an upcoming approach despite regular updates in the German media.

There are two ways to interpret this. It could be that those closest to the player in Munich are better informed. Or it could be that they are jumping as far forward as when they wrote for a year when Klopp was about to sign Timo Werner, although Anfield continues to deny this.

One suspects, as in the Werner case, that Liverpool actually monitored a class struggle in the Bundesliga without taking a step to sign it. It would be incredulous to believe that Klopp and his recruiting are not fully aware of Alcantara availability or that the player would like a transfer to the Premier League champions.

The main question is whether Liverpool’s title defense needs Alcantara.

Of course, given the quality of Alcantara, the short and obvious answer is yes. It’s too good not to be part of a meaningful conversation.

The long-term and more practical answer adds the caveat that they’ll need an Alcantara-class player even more when Wijnaldum’s deal expires.

If, contrary to everything they have said, Liverpool have made private contact with the Spain international, the only reasonable assumption is that the message includes a plea for patience in the event that funds and a spot on the squad are imminent.

The club emphasized during the pandemic that spending high without the certainty of returning income is undesirable. Liverpool’s most recent purchase of Greek left-back Kostas Tsimikas was funded through the sale of Dejan Lovren.

Bayern recently said Alcantara is worth £ 30m more than Liverpool would pay for a 29-year-old under normal financial conditions, let alone the current one. Since the transfer window is open until October and Alcantara could sign a preliminary contract with a foreign club two months later, these numbers are unrealistic.

According to reports in Germany, Alcantara doesn’t want to wait a year to leave Munich. Bayern boss Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has shown in the last 24 hours that he is not optimistic about keeping Alcantara.

“It looked very much like parting, like he made up his mind,” said Rummenigge, who added what Liverpool had been saying all along – that there had been no contact between Anfield and Bayern.

Wijnaldum, meanwhile, remains an integral part of Klopp’s plans as long as he is a Liverpool player.

The difference between Wijnaldum and the recent Lallana and Sturridge cases is that they were already substitutes when they entered the final year of their contract.

The Dutchman has been a lynchpin on Klopp’s Champions League and title-winning site, and every emotional farewell interview he does next summer gets more violent.

Wijnaldum’s place in the timeline of decorated recent Anfield history is assured. He was one of only three new signings before Klopp’s first full season in the summer of 2016 and, together with Joel Matip and Sadio Mane, turned the team that had not qualified for Europe last season into a Champions League qualifier again.

It was Wijnaldum who scored the first goal against Middlesbrough on the last day of the 2016-17 season to put Liverpool in the top four, one of the most critical goals of Klopp’s reign.

The two goals against Barcelona in the epic semi-final of the 2019 Champions League were among the Dutchman’s best two minutes.

Therefore, Klopp and the club have an obligation to be as careful and respectful as possible in discussing his future, and to negotiate the difficult terrain of keeping a committed, contributing player happy and motivated for the challenges ahead, while being aware that the football wheels keep turning. In a world where Manchester City is linked to Lionel Messi and promises to do whatever it takes to win his title back, Liverpool’s hardworking recruiting policy – which has been properly praised over the past five years – is being re-examined.

At the top, especially in a time of economic security, the considerations during a transfer window can differ significantly from those of Klopp in 2015, but are no less challenging.

Even considering the economic impact of Covid-19, a title winner who fails to add class to their first team poses a risk because the surest way to encourage those who are trying to hunt you down is to to stand still.

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