284 days later, Thiago Alcantara made his return

What fan doesn't enjoy watching Thiago Alcantara play? The Spanish midfielder left Bayern Munich after seven successful seasons as a key figure to join Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool after winning the Champions League, but has never enjoyed the same playing time as he did in Germany. The reason was a hip injury that had kept him out of the pitch since 26th April 2023.

His manager brought him back in for the top-of-the-table Premier League clash against Arsenal. The Reds were trailing 2-1 when he came on. The German coach was looking for more movement in the midfield and, for that reason, he turned to the Barcelona youth product, who could only serve as a witness to Leandro Trossard wrapping up the victory for Mikel Arteta's side.

It probably won't matter too much to him on an individual level because his focus, now, must be on becoming an important part of his boss's schemes in the second half of the season in order to seek a renewal. If he fails, he will be a free agent in the summer and, almost certainly, a bargain for the elite teams, although his market value, the result of so long on the sidelines, has plummeted to 11.7 million euros.

With the defeat to Arsenal, Liverpool have not lost the Premier League lead, so the conditions are right for Thiago to try to start by taking on a role in Klopp's midfield rotation and, little by little, to gradually leapfrog some of his teammates in terms of playing time. He won't have it easy: the board has already made up for his hip problems with the arrivals of Alexis mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, Ryan Gravenberch and Wataru Endo.