Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has confirmed that Reds playmaker Xherdan Shaqiri isn’t ‘the happiest player’ right now.
The Switzerland international suffered a disappointing second half of last season due to injury and lack of first team minutes, something which has continued into the new campaign.
Now, Klopp has provided some clarity on the 27-year-old’s situation: “Brilliant. Shaq is training well,” he said at his pre match press conference on Friday, as per journalist Ian Doyle’s personal Twitter account.
“In training Shaq doesn’t have to show anything special in any way. He just has to keep his level. We need him, he knows that. Is he the happiest player? I don’t think so. Does he show that? No.”
Klopp on Shaqiri: Brilliant. Shaq is training well. In training Shaq doesn't have to show anything special in any way. He just has to keep his level. We need him, he knows that. Is he the happiest player? I don't think so. Does he show that? No.
— Ian Doyle (@IanDoyleSport) August 30, 2019
OPINION
The problem for Shaqiri at the moment is that he is the perfect squad player for a team like Liverpool, but not quite good enough to be a crucial first team regular for them. Squad players for big clubs are generally players who would be considered stars for lesser teams, as Shaqiri was for Stoke City. Unfortunately, while he has immense natural ability, the Swiss sensation neither fits naturally in Klopp’s 4-3-3 formation or is quite good enough to force the German to mould his team around him. Shaqiri isn’t a natural central midfielder in a three, like Jordan Henderson and Georgina Wijnaldum are, but nor is he a nominal attacker like Mohamed Salah or Roberto Firmino. He kind of exists between those two plains. That can be useful, though, as we saw in the first half of last season. That’s why Klopp is so pleased with him, as his words above indicate, although the manager realises that Shaqiri’s lack of football is making him unhappy. At the moment, then, it would seem that the former Potter simply has to bide his time and wait for his next first team chance.
