"Thiago decides how things are done - he's the stabilizer in defence with a great footballing brain."
The Reds have been linked with Bayern Munich's brilliant midfielder, who has set the Bundesliga on fire this season and has been an integral part of the team since he moved to Germany back in 2013.
He's 29 years old, has a slight injury record and he would cost the Reds upwards of £30 million. Despite these factors, a move to Anfield would greatly benefit the Reds.
First, watch this brilliant video uploaded by the Bundesliga's official YouTube channel which explains what makes Thiago Alcantara so good.
The passing and offensive numbers
In 24 appearances in the Bundesliga, Thiago has scored 3 goals and completed over 90% of his passes while averaging just below 75 passes a game.
He also creates just under one key pass per game and attempts an insane 6.2 long balls per 90 minutes. The latter stat is especially useful to the style that Liverpool play, which often involves long balls over defences and fast passes to initiate counter-attacks - something which Thiago excels at.
Not only that, but the midfielder is also a great dribbler of the ball as he averages over 3 successful dribbles per game and is elite when it comes to spotting gaps in the defence that he can exploit with a good pass.
In the video above, it has been clearly explained how Thiago is the first line of offence as it is through him that the Munich attack starts in the middle of the park. He may not have many assists this season, but he did have 6 of them last season and is an expert puppet master who operates from deep in the park.
He is elite at beating the press - something which has affected even Jordan Henderson a few times this season. He has the flair and skill to win the ball and break past the first line of defence with ease.
As you can see in the image below, he collected the ball in almost the final third of the field and has 3 defenders on him.
Not an issue, as he uses his skill to just lob one of them approaching him.
Within two seconds, he is past the midfield and can pass the ball to anyone he likes!
A defensive monster
If you thought his passing was impressive, get ready for a shock - that isn't even his best trait!
In the Champions League this season, the Spaniard has been a monster when it comes to breaking up plays - he averages 3 tackles and 2.8 interceptions per game and has been dribbled past only 6 times in as many appearances, which is very impressive for a midfielder.
In the Bundesliga, he averages just under 2 tackles and interceptions per game. Indeed, the midfielder's ability to see opposition passes and break into the right areas at the right time has benefited Bayern on several occasions this season.
See this series of images below - a Hoffenheim player receives the ball in a good area of the pitch and has decent passing options.
But wait, who's behind him?
In a moment, Thiago steals the ball from his dejected opponent.
A moment later, he spots a teammate and a fast break is on. Defence to the offense before you can pronounce his full name - can you imagine such passes being played to Mohamed Salah or Sadio Mane?
He's better than current Liverpool midfielders
John Barnes recently said: "Ninety-nine per cent of people wouldn't pick Henderson and Wijnaldum above Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva or even Jack Grealish or James Maddison, but they work for Liverpool."
Essentially, the Reds legend is praising the team's system which brings the best out of our current players. And he's completely right - Jurgen Klopp's midfield is superb because they work great together in tandem and complement each other on the field.
However, as individuals, no single Liverpool midfielder is better than Thiago. For argument's sake, let's analyse the advances stats of Gini Wijnaldum, Henderson and Fabinho, Liverpool's usual midfield trio (all stats and images are taken from footballslices).
pAdj is defined by StatsBomb as: "Stands for Possession-Adjusted. Essentially, the problem with defensive rate stats is that you can't make a tackle, interception, etc when your team has the ball. Thus teams that have a lot of the ball will have under-represented defensive output compared to a team with low possession. These types of stats attempt to adjust for the opportunity."
xA is expected assists. Opta defines them as: "xA measures the likelihood that a given pass will become a goal assist. It considers several factors including the type of pass, pass end-point and length of the pass."
The other advanced stats include pressuring the opponent into losing the ball, and progressive distance, which basically means taking the ball into dangerous areas of the park where chances can be better created.
Thiago ranks higher than almost every midfielder in Europe in terms of successful dribbles, pass completion rate, passes into the final third, and tackles and interceptions per game.
This image only stands to prove what we mentioned above - Thiago is a truly elite passer and tackler of the ball who is adept at breaking defences, winning the ball back, and playing the final ball to slice through the opposition.
In the image below, Wijnaldum's stats are highlighted.
Barring pass completion (by the finest of margins), there is not one category where Gini is better than Thiago. In fact, it's not even close in most categories as Thiago is so superior!
Let's take a look at how Hendo compares to the Spaniard.
Again, as good as Hendo has been for us, there's really no comparison between these two players!
Why don't we observe Fabinho's stats for the season?
Yet again, Thiago is clear of our Brazilian international.
This is not to say that the three midfielders who start for us are average. They're all fantastic players who have won 4 trophies in the last 12 months. However, when you speak of individual quality and what they bring to the table, none of them matches Thiago.
As such, his addition to this team - be it in place of Gini, Hendo, or Fab, will only improve the team. If anything, he will give us a creative edge from the middle of the park and a way to beat any press in England!
Why the transfer fee and wages make sense
As for the wages and price - Thiago earns roughly over £200,000 a week, which could be a deterrent to the deal. However, the departure of Nathaniel Clyne and Adam Lallana (and possibly Dejan Lovren and Xherdan Shaqiri) will create space in the club's wages that can be used for his transfer.
Moreover, the fee of £30M for him is a steal given the player's talent. Thiago's age isn't too big of an issue either, as Gini and Hendo are the same age or older, and the Spaniard's style of play is more composed like Andrea Pirlo rather than a workhorse type midfielder like Wesley Sneijder.
This means that should Thiago stay injury-free, he can play at this level for at least five more seasons. Of course, we should mention that he has missed quite a few games over his career due to his injuries and that's the only risk in this deal for Liverpool.
Read from our Bayern editor
Still not convinced? Well, read what our resident Bayern Munich fan and editor Alex Manov has to say on the matter (PS - Alex has a soft spot for Liverpool too!): "Without any doubt, Thiago would be a great signing for LFC.
"But there is a big question whom he would replace in the starting lineup. In Munich, he's mostly been playing either as a single No.6 or in a double pivot system with Kimmich. He's excellent at both breaking up plays and passing the ball in the final third where he is very dangerous if given the slightest space.
"Since Klopp usually plays 4-3-3, it would be logical that he is a direct replacement for Fabinho. On the other hand, Fab is for me the most stable midfielder at LFC and fits best to the system of Klopp.
"If I had to make a choice between Hendo and Gini I'd rather bench Jordan despite my love to him as a captain."
We previously explained how Thiago would fit into the LFC team, and you can read that article here.
Well, what do you think Reds - Thiago in, or thanks but no thanks? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or use our blogging platform to voice your opinion!
