15 Jun 2014

'He's excellent': Lawro hails 'disappointed' €18m star who's close to signing for LFC

Liverpool continue to be linked with a summer move for Bayern Munich start Xherdan Shaqiri, and Reds legend Mark Lawrenson believes the 22-year old could be one of the World Cup's star players.

In May, the Liverpool Echo and The Telegraph reported:

* Shaqiri is Brendan Rodgers' back-up plan if the Reds miss out on Adam Lallana

* LFC have scouted Shaqiri 'extensively'

Earlier this month, reports in Switzerland claimed:

* Liverpool are close to signing Shaqiri for €18m
* Talks between LFC and Bayern Munich are 'ongoing'.

Reds fans will be able to run the rule over €18m-rated Shaqiri later today, and in his Saturday column for The Mirror, Lawro suggested that the World Cup provides the attacker with an 'opportunity to earn a move to the Premier League'. He added:

"He [Shaqiri] is a left-footed winger with pace, power and excellent vision. From a Swiss point of view, 17 league appearances last season means he will be fresh".

I'm sure Shaqiri is aware that he's in the shop window, and based on his recent comments, he's desperate for a move:

"I'm not going through another year like this. I am disappointed because I have played less. I am young and need to develop myself. I want to play in the big games from the beginning, and the Champions League is important to me."

Adam Lallana - another LFC target - barely got 10 minutes for England last night, but Shaqiri should start for Switzerland, and like many Reds fans, I'm looking forward to seeing him in action. It will be interesting to see if he's able to influence the game in a similar way to Raheem Sterling, against whom he'd be competing for a place in LFC's first team.

Shameless cheating aside, The World Cup is great entertainment so far, and almost all of LFC's alleged transfer targets are playing well, with Lovren, Sanchez, DeVrij, and Cuadrado all looking very good for their respective teams.

Unfortunately, with Shaqiri, Liverpool are not the only team interested. If he plays well, the competition for his signature will increase exponentially, and the Reds have a poor record of fighting off other teams to land major transfer targets.

Clearly, playing regularly is the most important requirement for Shaqiri, but will he get that at Anfield? He'll probably want assurance of that prior to signing for the club, and I doubt Rodgers will guarantee a certain level of pitch time. Additionally, competition at Liverpool will be fierce next season, so the Swiss will inevitably have to fight for his place.

I suspect Shaqiri will sign for a manager who promises to make him the focal point of the team, and if that means going to a 'lesser' club (in the Champions League), I doubt he'll have a problem with that.

Author:


32 comments:

  1. Agree about our poor record in fighting off other teams for transfer targets, but hopefully CL qualification this year and the fact the we again look like a team heading in the right direction will make the difference. Was very keen on Lallana (feel his game really suits the way we play, with the high press and pass and move style), but 25m was already over the odds. I wouldn't go any higher for him. Shaquiri I think will be superb on the wings for us. Speed, strength, and if we choose to play with the single forward, him and Sterling could do very nicely for us wide in a 4-3-3. Looking forward to watching Shaq tonight!

    ReplyDelete
  2. my gosh raheem sterling and daniel sturridge
    theese guys are so talented
    but rodgers deserves so much credit in how he transformed them
    sterling looked like maradona yesterday and sturridge reminded me of pele
    if liverpool keep suarez and sign say lallana and shaqiri
    there is no way we will not compete for the league
    can't wait to see sterling and sturridge in cl

    ReplyDelete
  3. Maradona and Pele? Don't exaggerate or anything.

    ReplyDelete
  4. raheem sterling is amazing give him his 100k contract
    IMO he is our best player , in the second half of the season he was winning all the sky sports motm awards instead of SAS


    if suarez is worth 250k a week , then sterling should get at least 100k


    we have the best attack in the world though SASAS

    ReplyDelete
  5. i bet sterling is playing at a higher level then madonna at 19
    and sturridge can be as good as pele , sturridge gets better all the time , if he has an injury free season i bet he would have scored more then suarze and ronaldo


    remember sturridge plays through pain barrier all year especially the start

    ReplyDelete
  6. .........................sturridge
    sanchez............sterling.........suarez


    make this happen brendan rodgers

    ReplyDelete
  7. SASASAS
    with lallana and coutinho as cover
    i am dreaming now
    jk is that the best attack in the world or not?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Sterling and Sturridge made me proud to be a Liverpool fan last night (England are also my second team, especially so with the Liverpool contingent).


    Gerrard needs a f**king kick up the bum, he was kind of non-existent. Come on Gerrard!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Par for the course when it comes to SG and international tournaments.

    ReplyDelete
  10. hendo played well
    but is it roy hodgsons tactics or hendos nervousness
    that he does not make any runs into the attack like he does at lfc

    ReplyDelete
  11. i was thinking about chelleinis challenge on sturridge
    surley that is the most dangerous type of challenge
    pushing your knees into someone else even more then a two footed challenge
    fifa need to wise up and see this is more dangerous and tell refs to give red cards accordingly

    ReplyDelete
  12. It is seriously frustrating JK. Do you have any theories on why he's generally failed to cut the mustard on the international stage?

    I also love the way Italy are able to always produce at least a solid overall tournament performance, no matter how 'bad' their squad is. This year, they are not as strong as they have been in the past, yet they defeated England with some class.
    I think it's because the Italian players know what their national style is, they know it works for them, and they know how to do it.

    ReplyDelete
  13. please he scored in 06 was one of englands better players
    in euro 2012 he made team of the tournament


    yesterday he just met a superior match in pirlo


    see i am normally a negative person so there is no way i am being biased

    ReplyDelete
  14. Shiqiri would get more games for us than he did for Bayern. He isn't just up against Raheem but all our mids (barring Gearard) and even the strikers (as in a 433 one would be wide anyway). So that is healthy and his versatility would be helpful for us. He would give us more options and ways of playing. Let's hope we can get him.

    ReplyDelete
  15. how is that exaggerating ?

    ReplyDelete
  16. i would like him but where would he play say suarez stays
    .....................sturridge
    sterling..............................suarze
    ...............coutinho

    ReplyDelete
  17. Gerrard is a failure on the international stage, just like the rest of the laughably named 'Golden Generation'.

    ReplyDelete
  18. He's failed to live up to it more often than not.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I would tempt Barca with a 35m offer for Sanchez .I know it is probably 60-70% of our kitty but i think he is a player who would take us to the next level, there are no guarantees in football but he is as safe a bet as any. He is easily the most complete attacking player aside from CR,Messi, Suarez, Aguero and maybe Bale . Forget about Lallana and develop Suso who is 6years younger and could be better in a few yeras time. Sanchez, Lovern and a LB would be an amazing summer.

    ReplyDelete
  20. So about 200 poms (what Aussies call Englishman) forced the very temporary closure of a pub in Brisbane, Australia for being too rowdy during the WC match. Man I love you poms!

    ReplyDelete
  21. He's still 10 times better than almost every player in my team (Australia). We could do with him in the Holland vs New Holland match...

    ReplyDelete
  22. My theory on the English is many fail to handle playing in warm conditions the humidity would have been murder for them.
    Just wonder if this may be the case it may be a tournament dominated by players who can adapt best.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Any one of the no striker positions. Sturridge hasn't got the best injury record, Sterling is still young and we want to guard against over playing him, same too of Coutinhio and Cout's form is up and down anyway as well a Suarez only being one rush of blood away from getting a ban. We will be in four comps next year. Injury form and rotation will allow us to play those players above and well as our new signings.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Yeah, but at least they were a cut above than the ones I mentioned...

    ReplyDelete
  25. Jealous? No chance :-) I'm not fussed whether Scotland qualify for international tournaments. Their brand of football is even more turgid that England's. I'd rather see exciting, entertaining teams at the World Cup.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Agree about Italy - I absolutely love watching Pirlo play. Absolute legend, and that's what Gerrard should be bringing to England.


    Re England failure on the international stage: There have been some outstanding individuals (and I include Gerrard in that), but collectively, England just don't have the mentality, tactics, or - as you mentioned - long-held 'style' to excel.


    England is just about individuals and ego; they lack a unifying leader who supersedes ego to pull them all together. Plus, it takes decades to grow out of the typical English 'kick and rush' philosophy, and it's a problem that pervades the entire game, from the grassroots up.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Well, nevertheless, hopefully what we saw from England against Italy is an indication of a new effective style which still start to be imprinted into their DNA.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Today we can have a glimpse of what Shaqiri is capable of vs Ecuador.


    As far as England goes, I cannot see many crying if they do not make it past the group stage. Chokers!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Sturridge actually looks like Pele in his younger years!

    ReplyDelete
  30. I broadly agree with you JK. but In defence of the 'Golden Generation', it is difficult to flourish and impose yourself without any clear identity. England's game has been characterised by "work hard, tackle hard, hope for the best". You don't always need something as defined as tiki-taka, but England never even made an effort to field a team rather than a collection of stars.

    The two best players England have produced in the past 20 years are Gerrard and Scholes and both of them played a decent amount of games at left-mid.

    I'm not sure that ego is an issue in terms of big egos not getting on but I do agree that there was a need for one big ego (or maybe a couple) to unite the squad.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Shaqiri will never make it in the prem, not good enough for LFC and he is not a team player. Lallana is a much better player.

    ReplyDelete
  32. I'm not saying its not a priority, just that its not the TOP priority, If we can get a winger/AM like the ones listed above, then thats perfect. But really we only have one player who can play wing effectively (sterling), and one other one who can fill in (coutinho). For AM, we have Coutinho, Suarez, Hendo, and Allen (plus Alberto, Texeria, Suso, and Aspas if you include them). They might not be AS effective as a true AM, but they get the job done. We need a good goal scoring AM, just not more than we need a good left winger.

    ReplyDelete