Having welcomed Arthur Melo back to team training last week, Liverpool were on the cusp of having all of their senior midfielders available for action.
While the Brazilian wouldn’t be ready to feature against Everton in Monday night’s Merseyside derby, it was a step in the right direction at least, considering the Reds woes both in midfield and with injury this season.
So perhaps we shouldn’t really be surprised at the fact that no sooner had that prospect started to edge closer to becoming a reality, after Arthur was pictured training on Thursday, one of Jurgen Klopp’s last comments in his pre-match press conference on Friday immediately dashed such hopes and brought Kopites crashing back down to earth - Thiago Alcantara is injured.
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"Thiago has some problems,” the German confirmed to reporters. “I know the problem but I have to ask if I am allowed to say about it! Hip flexor, stuff like this. So he was not able to train.”
Ruled out of the Merseyside derby as a result, reports over the weekend suggested the Spaniard faced up to a month on the sidelines and was a doubt for both legs of Liverpool’s Champions League round-of-16 clash with Real Madrid. It remains to be seen whether that will prove to be the case, with Anfield sources insisting that a timescale hadn’t yet been put on Thiago’s hip problem as the club wait for it to settle down.
Either way, Klopp is likely to offer an update at his next pre-match press conference later this week, ahead of facing Newcastle United, if not when performing matchday media duties against Everton.
Losing Thiago to injury is not a new phenomenon for Liverpool. The Spaniard was plagued by availability issues prior to his move to Anfield, and that hasn’t changed since he joined the Reds in September 2020.
He would miss 20 matches through injury (and Covid-19) during his first season with the club, with such a total rising to 22 games as Liverpool nearly won an unprecedented quadruple. In truth, it could have been 23 with the midfielder, having missed the League Cup final after pulling up in the pre-match warm-up, needing painkilling injections to get through the Champions League final.
Admittedly, the 31-year-old has fared better this season. While a hamstring injury suffered on the opening day of the campaign against Fulham would keep him out for five matches, including September’s reverse Merseyside derby at Goodison, a small issue which sidelined him against Nottingham Forest and Ajax in October are the only other games he has been forced to miss.
Yet that total of seven matches looks set to double if he is indeed ruled out for a month, with the Reds facing the likes of Newcastle, Real Madrid, and Manchester United in the weeks after Monday's Merseyside derby but before the March international break. As a result, while he has featured in 14 of Liverpool’s 20 Premier League matches so far this season, any chance of him breaking the 30-game barrier for only the second time in his professional league career looks set to have been dashed by this latest setback.
If we’re honest, news of a Thiago injury now is hardly surprising given his record, considering he has started all 10 of the Reds’ matches since the World Cup. Meanwhile, he’s also started 14 of Liverpool’s last 15 games since missing those clashes with Forest and Ajax, with the League Cup third round meeting with Derby County in November his only night off.
When the Spaniard is available, the Spaniard starts, such is his genuine world class quality. And even though not always at his best in recent weeks, the reliance on him has grown even more considering the vast drop-off from the likes of experienced team-mates Fabinho and Jordan Henderson this season.
Quantity-wise, the Reds have more than enough to cover his absence. Stefan Bajcetic’s emergence has left Klopp with 11 senior midfielders at his disposal. Even counting Thiago’s hip problem and Arthur not yet being fit to feature, he still has nine to choose from against Everton. But Liverpool’s issue this season hasn’t been quantity in midfield, rather it’s a lack of quality.
Having spent the past 12 months revamping their attack, the Reds’ engine-room is next on the agenda. But despite outside adamance that such surgery should have already commenced, Liverpool’s restructuring remains on hold until the summer.
They did try last year, of course, only to be told that target Aurelien Tchouameni only had eyes for Real Madrid. As a result, rightly or wrongly, they opted to wait for first-choice target Jude Bellingham, with the likes of Matheus Nunes and Mason Mount also reportedly of interest.
Regardless of whether they fail to qualify for next season’s Champions League or not, the Reds’ midfield is still in desperate need of a revamp, with Thiago’s latest injury only reiterating such a fact.
Liverpool boast an ageing squad stuck in transition, out of form and low on confidence. Looking at their midfield specifically, while you will be greeted by 11 names, you will also see a combination of expiring contracts, injury-prone players, ageing stars, or raw potential. The majority aren’t enjoying their peak years, and even though there are one or two on paper that should be, performances prove to be anything but.
From those 11 options, four are not contracted to the Reds beyond the summer with 37-year-old vice-captain James Milner, Naby Keita, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain all poised to leave on Bosman transfers, while loanee Arthur is certain to return to Juventus.
Fabinho will join captain Henderson and Thiago on the wrong side of 30 later this year, with his drastic loss of form ensuring his Anfield future remains uncertain, despite a contract until 2026, after losing his previously-untouchable starting berth.
Meanwhile, Henderson turns 33 in June while Thiago, who will enter the final year of his contract come the summer, celebrates his 32nd birthday in April. Even if all three were fully fit and on form, they are also not Liverpool’s future.
That leaves teenagers Bajcetic and Harvey Elliott, and 20-year-olds Curtis Jones and Fabio Carvalho. Beyond them, 20-year-old Tyler Morton, currently on loan at Blackburn Rovers, and 18-year-old Bobby Clark could also enter the conversation at a later date.
Yet the Spaniard is only starting at the moment in response to Fabinho and Henderson’s lack of form, while there remains question marks over whether the likes of Elliott and Carvalho will even be midfielders in the long-run, along with Jones’ availability record and long-term place at Anfield. While any of the six could cement their place in the Reds’ midfield of the future, it is too soon to rely on them at the expense of a much-needed revamp.
Links with Bellingham, Nunes, and Mount will continue. Aged 19 and 24 respectively, all three boast impeccable injury records while the two England internationals both count as homegrown. Meanwhile, between them they offer an energy and attacking outlet that is certainly lacking in Liverpool’s current options.
Attention and speculation will remain on Bellingham most of all in the months ahead, given he is the Reds’ first-choice target yet their current woes leave any deal seemingly in increasing peril. But Liverpool need more than one midfielder as part of this engine-room overhaul.
Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez, Fabio Carvalho, and Cody Gakpo were all brought in as part of the attacking revamp, as the Reds waved off Sadio Mane, Takumi Minamino, and Divock Origi. You could argue they need a similar influx of new talent again, even with seven of their current senior options still under contract next year.
After all, those seven are a mixture of talented youngsters and players past their prime. While all have a part to play, in an ideal world they only complement a new starting midfield.
And that includes Thiago. While not declining at the same rate of some of his team-mates, his injury issues are still present and it remains to be seen where his future lies beyond the summer of 2024.
He is a world class player and it is perfectly understandable why he is such a constant in Klopp’s starting XI when fit, especially given their current struggles. But that is now a problem of sorts as Liverpool prepare to build their next midfield.
If their planned revamp is to be successful, this reliance on Thiago has to end. One of a number of ageing stars who have served the club well, he can still play a part in the future but has to be what the Reds grow beyond.
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