By Chika Ngozi
Thiago Alcantara turned down the chance to re-join Barcelona this summer while Jurgen Klopp played a vital role in convincing the midfielder to move to Liverpool, according to reports in Spain.
The 29-year-old completed his £25 million move from Bayern Munich last week and impressed during his 45-minute debut as Liverpool sealed a 2-0 win over Chelsea on Sunday.
According to Cadena SER, Barcelona attempted to re-sign Thiago and the Spanish club’s director, Javier Bordas, personally met with the midfielder this summer in an attempt to persuade him to return to Camp Nou.
The report claims that Thiago listened to Barcelona’s proposal but by that time he had already made up his mind and was intent on joining Liverpool.
Barcelona also struggled to meet Bayern’s asking price and were only willing to offer €10m (£9.1m). Cadena SER report that Klopp had held multiple talks with Thiago and claim that the German’s promise of further success in Europe helped convince the midfielder that Anfield would be his best destination.
Klopp reportedly told Thiago that if he wanted to win another Bundesliga title he should remain at Bayern, but if he wanted to win the Champions League again he should make the move to Liverpool.
Klopp also told Thiago that he would play a key role in Liverpool’s midfield and he is a player that is needed at Anfield.
Speaking after Thiago’s impressive debut against Chelsea on Sunday, Klopp said: ‘It was top timing I would say, in a game like this. ‘He [Thiago] trained, he had eight days off, he played with Spain, he trained with Munich, he’s fit, that’s not the main problem.
‘But of course he’s not used to our things, that’s clear. ‘They [Bayern] played a different system, they played slightly different that’s how it is, that’s how football is, you have to get used to your mates next to you. ‘
But then when they had one man down it was pretty much the perfect game. ‘And Hendo [Jordan Henderson] felt a little bit, we had to react and we decided to bring him on.
‘Yeah, I liked it, I liked the game a lot. ‘Defensively it was tricky for him because we set it up differently but offensively with the ball, yeah, that’s him. He wants to pass the ball.’
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