Danny Murphy has written in The Daily Mail that he feels Gini Wijnaldum is going to leave Liverpool after their acquisition of Thiago Alcantara.
The Reds drew a big line under months worth of transfer speculation by finally bringing the Spain international to Anfield on Friday.
And Thiago enjoyed a stunning, record-breaking debut during Liverpool’s 2-0 win away to Chelsea on Sunday.
The 29-year-old came on at half-time, replacing Jordan Henderson, but he still completed 75 passes – the most of any player in Premier League history in a 45-minute period.
Prior to Thiago coming in, there was speculation that Liverpool would only sign the former Bayern and Barcelona star if they lose a midfielder – and with Wijnaldum heavily linked with a move to Camp Nou, he was deemed as the Dutchman’s replacement on Merseyside.
And although both are on the club’s books right now, former Liverpool man Murphy believes it’s ‘inevitable’ that the club offloads Wijnaldum – a £25 million signing in 2016 – before the window shuts on October 5.
He said: “I do think Gini Wijnaldum’s departure has an air of inevitability about it now because Liverpool will have seven or eight players challenging for three positions, which means too many unhappy faces for the balance of the squad.”
Murphy is right in saying that Liverpool now have an abundance of central midfielders.
In addition to Thiago and Wijnaldum, Jurgen Klopp also has Henderson, Naby Keita, Fabinho, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Curtis Jones.
They all don’t play identical roles, but the reality is that the German manager has too many options and something will have to give.
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