{"id":566175,"date":"2020-09-18T11:06:51","date_gmt":"2020-09-18T15:06:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=566175"},"modified":"2020-09-18T11:06:51","modified_gmt":"2020-09-18T15:06:51","slug":"thiago-alcantara-spanish-midfielder-completes-long-awaited-liverpool-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2020\/09\/18\/thiago-alcantara-spanish-midfielder-completes-long-awaited-liverpool-move\/","title":{"rendered":"Thiago Alcantara: Spanish Midfielder Completes Long-Awaited Liverpool Move"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/clubs\/liverpool\/\" target=\"_self\">Liverpool<\/a> have confirmed the signing of Spanish midfielder Thiago Alcantara. The former <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/clubs\/bayern-munich\/\" target=\"_self\">Bayern Munich<\/a> midfielder has agreed a long-term deal to make the move to Anfield.<\/p>\n<h2>Thiago Alcantara Joins Liverpool<\/h2>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The moment you\u2019ve all been waiting for\u2026<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ThiagoFriday?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#ThiagoFriday<\/a> \ud83e\udd29 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/s2tOCvnHta\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/s2tOCvnHta<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Liverpool FC (@LFC) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LFC\/status\/1306970781465948160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">September 18, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>Long-Term Interest<\/h3>\n<p>Liverpool have been courting the 29-year-old&#8217;s signature throughout the summer transfer window.<\/p>\n<p>However, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/theathletic.com\/news\/liverpool-transfer-thiago-bayern-latest\/VkUI90068RhX\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Athletic<\/a>, talks between Munich and Liverpool only developed more recently, with the German champions keen to offload him before the start of the new Bundesliga season.<\/p>\n<p>Thiago was close to agreeing a new deal at the Allianz Arena according to the report, but then changed his mind.<\/p>\n<p>While Liverpool&#8217;s interest remained in the public domain, the Spaniard finished the season with Munich. He played a major part in their Champions League final win over <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/clubs\/paris-saint-germain\/\" target=\"_self\">Paris Saint-Germain<\/a>, putting in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whoscored.com\/Matches\/1485116\/Live\/Europe-Champions-League-2019-2020-Paris-Saint-Germain-Bayern-Munich\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Man of the Match<\/a> performance in his holding midfield role.<\/p>\n<h3>Bayern Munich Career<\/h3>\n<p>Thiago joined Munich in 2013 from boyhood club <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/clubs\/barcelona\/\" target=\"_self\">Barcelona<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>He was highly sought after by then-manager Pep Guardiola, who had previously managed him at the Nou Camp. Speaking at the time, Guardiola<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bundesliga.com\/en\/news\/Bundesliga\/thiago-alcantara-from-promising-pep-guardiola-pup-to-world-class-number-10-blmd31n-442699.jsp\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> said<\/a>: &#8220;I spoke to the club and told them about my concept and told them why I want Thiago. He is the only player that I want. It will be him or no one.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Despite the high praise, he initially struggled to make an impact at Allianz Arena &#8211; he scored just two goals and registered four assists in his first season.<\/p>\n<p>However, he has developed into an impressive, well-rounded playmaker since then. The 2016\/17 season saw him register his best season to date in a Bayern Munich shirt, as he scored nine goals while also creating nine for his team-mates.<\/p>\n<h3>A Good Fit for Liverpool<\/h3>\n<p>Despite his age, Thiago will prove to be a good short-term fit for Liverpool.<\/p>\n<p>He fits the model of player that Jurgen Klopp is looking to bring to Anfield, and his experience will benefit those that will be below him in the pecking order.<\/p>\n<p>While he is signing a reported four-year deal, Klopp can look to source a midfielder who will be the long-term future of the Reds&#8217; midfield.<\/p>\n<p>After putting pen to paper, Thiago told the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.liverpoolfc.com\/news\/first-team\/408961-liverpool-fc-complete-signing-of-thiago-alcantara\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> club website<\/a>: \u201cI think it\u2019s an amazing feeling. I was waiting for this moment for a long time and I am very, very happy to be here.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen the years are passing, you are trying to win as much as you can \u2013 and when you win, you want to win more. I think this club describes what I am as well; I want to achieve all of the goals, win as many trophies as possible.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt also [has] this kind of family [feeling] that I need because we [like to] have a very close relationship with the club and I think I will feel this, I will have this feeling, with this club as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo<br \/>\n<a id=\"KHTUl533RXZr4gZHVsv9_Q\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.co.uk\/detail\/1228174456\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'KHTUl533RXZr4gZHVsv9_Q',sig:'n4uPULwG6FIgWdJUu1EvEUXyNnyYDkPZv8U0yBmmbcM=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1228174456',caption: true ,tld:'co.uk',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Liverpool have confirmed the signing of Spanish midfielder Thiago Alcantara. The former Bayern Munich midfielder has agreed a long-term deal to make the move to Anfield. Thiago Alcantara Joins Liverpool The moment you\u2019ve all been waiting for\u2026#ThiagoFriday \ud83e\udd29 pic.twitter.com\/s2tOCvnHta \u2014 Liverpool FC (@LFC) September 18, 2020 Long-Term Interest Liverpool have been courting the 29-year-old&#8217;s signature [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2795,"featured_media":566355,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1364,2,16,30,3,28],"tags":[53,95,40,735,136],"class_list":["post-566175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bayern-munich","category-featured","category-liverpool","category-news","category-premier-league","category-transfers","tag-bayern-munich","tag-liverpool","tag-premier-league","tag-thiago-alcantara","tag-world-football"],"modified_by":"Tom Cunningham, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2795"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=566175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566175\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}