Liverpool are expected to confirm the signing of Stoke City attacking midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri straight after the World Cup, according to the Independent.
The newspaper claim the Switzerland international’s move to Anfield is set to be announced following the completion of the competition, which ends on 15 July.
Shaqiri, 26, has been linked with a number of Premier League clubs following Stoke’s relegation from the Premier League but the Independent report Liverpool are all but certain to win the race for his signature.
OPINION
It is fair to say that when reports first emerged last month that Liverpool could sign Shaqiri, they were met with some less than enthusiastic responses from many of the club’s supporters. Those demanding huge money is spent on a blue-chip replacement for Philippe Coutinho certainly weren’t impressed by the prospect of around £13million being spent to meet the release clause in Shaqiri’s contract. Sure, the left-footed attacking midfielder is no Coutinho replacement (but who is, in all honesty?), but that is not the point of why Liverpool are in pursuit. He is a low-risk capture, proven in the Premier League and, as he has showed at the World Cup, capable of golden moments and winning elite matches. His 2017-18 stats in the English top flight – eight goals and seven assists – were decent if far from startling. But that was in a team that went down. For Liverpool, he need not be a nailed-on starter. But he could win them some big games with his quick feet, sharp turn of pace, taste for the spectacular and, most crucially of all, a hammer of a left peg.
