Despite it only being speculation I thought it might be interesting to profile Xherdan Shaqiri, the Swiss youngster who has apparently been on Liverpool’s radar. The basis of the story is really that Roy Hodgson has connections in Swiss football and that Shaqiri would like a move to the Premier League. In any case, Shaqiri is certainly looking like a promising player. He announced himself onto the international scene in some style with his spectacular goal against England a couple of weeks ago, and with his contract at Basel due to expire in 2011; there will be a big fight over his signature.
Shaqiri is an ethnic Albanian who was born in Kosovo and he emigrated as a child, along with his parents, to Switzerland. His family settled in Basel and Shaqiri started to play for SV Augst before moving to play in FC Basel’s youth team. Here it became clear that Shaqiri was a real talent. Playing in the U15 Nike Cup he was named the player of the tournament and he rejected offers from some big European clubs to stay in Switzerland. In 2009, he had some fantastic displays playing for Basel in the FIFA Youth Cup and it wasn’t long before he made his debut for the Swiss club’s first team. In July 2009 he made his first appearance against St Gallen as a substitute in the opening game of the league season and he hasn’t looked back since. He scored his first goal against Neuchatel Xamax in November of that year, and he would go on to finish the season with six goals and five assists in his debut campaign.
Still only 18, Shaqiri is a left winger but like Lionel Messi, his strength belies his diminutive stature and his low centre of gravity allows him to have great ball control and dribbling skills. He also has a great deal of pace and acceleration, utilising his good technique out wide to either cut in to unleash a rasping shot from long range or to cross into the box to provide a dangerous ball for opposition defences to handle. He also is adaptable and can play in different positions in midfield. His goal against England is demonstrative of this as he cuts in from the right and unleashes a fantastic left foot shot:
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His quick feet, pace and ability to pass, shoot and run at high tempo means he would be a very exciting addition to the Premier League, and it could very well be an ideal league for him to play going by his attributes. He is seen as the future of Swiss football, and a tremendous amount of faith has been shown in him by Swiss coach Ottmar Hitzfield. Despite only having one full season under his belt, Shaqiri was selected in Switzerland’s 23 man World Cup squad ahead of many other more experienced players. After helping Basel to the league and cup double, he travelled with the Swiss squad to South Africa, and although he didn’t appear in the tournament, it indicates the level of ability Hitzfeld, one of world’s greatest coaches, thinks he has.
He has already appeared seven times for his country and he scored his first goal for Switzerland coming on against England. Xherdan Shaqiri is a player with great promise who has a bright future ahead of him if he has the right guidance. He is still only 18 though and it will be a few years before it is certain how good a player he will become. He is certainly an interesting player for us to be linked with, and with both Roy having connections in Swiss football, and the fact his contract is near its expiration, it could be a deal we should look out for.
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Good idea but wait a minute! If he is only a teen then given the LFC past he would have to wait seven to eight years to get picked for the first team!
Love your comment blindside! These days Messi could come through our system and still would’nt be picked for the first team. I actually think we’ve got a number of reserves that are better, right now, than some of the crap in the first team squad. A perfect example of my prior point is I just read that West Brom and Bolton want to sign Hammill.
yeah, if we can get him for the reported £2m, we have to take a punt on potential! but i agree with blindside and phil, no point in buying him if he doesn’t get a game, at some stage we are going to have to throw on these talented young guys and use the fact that they are unknown quantities to our advantage, you never know, they might the surprise the hell out of the premier league the way rooney and owen did when they burst on the scene for everton and Lfc (shame they developed into wankie mancies!)
buy him,buy taiwo, arda,milevskiy,cahill or dann and we are done.the line up should then be
reina,johnso,cara,dann,taiwo,raul,steve g,arda,joe cole,tores,milevsky.sell kuyt,lucas,babel,maxi,aqua,elzhar,insua