SOCCER
Liverpool midfielder Thiago dismisses Barcelona transfer speculation
Thiago Alcántara has had injury issues at Liverpool, but has no doubts over his Anfield switch and dismissed rumours of a Barcelona return.
Liverpool playmaker Thiago Alcántara has not considered a return to Barcelona, insisting he is "100 per cent' happy with his choice to move to Anfield.
Thiago has not had it easy with injuries since his transfer to Liverpool from Bayern Munich in 2020.
The Spain international contracted Covid-19 shortly after his arrival, before suffering an injury due to a tackle from Everton's Richarlison during his full debut in October last year.
He played just 24 league games last season, starting 20 of them, scoring once.
Injury issues disrupting Thiago
More niggling injury issues have restricted the 30-year-old to eight appearances across all competitions so far this term. However, he does seem to be rediscovering something close to his best form, at least from a creative standpoint.
Per 90 minutes played, Thiago creates on average 2.2 chances, tied with Mohamed Salah for third place in Liverpool's squad behind Trent Alexander-Arnold (3.2) and Konstantinos Tsimikas (2.7), while 305 of his 345 attempted passes have found a team-mate (an 88.4 per cent accuracy).
Linked with return to Barcelona
Following Xavi taking over from Ronald Koeman at Barça, however, there had been reports linking Thiago with a return to his former club, with the Blaugrana's new coach reportedly keen to reunite with his old team-mate.
Thiago, though, says he is perfectly happy at Anfield.
"As always, I am a guy who plays football," he told a news conference ahead of Liverpool's Champions League meeting with Porto on Wednesday.
"I am not focused on the rumours, I am focused on the duty I have with my team, the years that I have on the contract and I just want to know about this new adventure that I have here in the Premier League, trying to win all the trophies that I can with this team."
"One hundred per cent I made the right choice, the right move," he added when asked if he had any doubts over his move to the Premier League due to the amount of injuries he has sustained.
"The injuries stop the frequency to play, and to know how the team performs on the pitch.
"You can watch football and all the time it's awesome but putting it into practice is even better. It's a pity football has [injuries] but it's part of football, part of life, when we are fit we have to put in as high performances as we can.
"I think the first year was very interrupted because of the Covid situation, injury. I had a quick adaptation. We struggled last season, for many reasons.
"This year, you know your team-mates much better, the runs that they make, the way they prefer to receive the ball, the way they defend, how they attack. To me the most important thing is to try to win in the way we want to win."
Hugely successdul career
Thiago has collected four LaLiga titles, seven Bundesliga crowns and three Champions League winners' medals across a glittering career, working under some of Europe's top coaches, including Carlo Ancelotti, Pep Guardiola, Hansi Flick and, now, Jurgen Klopp.
"First of all, I had the luck to play with great players, great teams. I remember the time with Pep was different to Ancelotti and time with Tito [Vilanova] was different to Pep also," he said when asked to compare playing under Guardiola and Klopp.
"With these two coaches [Guardiola and Klopp] we can see, they both have the same charisma. Also, they have the group in their hands, they make them perform better. The similarities are there.
"The difference is how the teams play. One is much more possession. It's great both are doing what they want in the greatest way football can bring."