Xherdan Shaqiri has managed 11 minutes of Premier League football for Liverpool this season.
Jurgen Klopp used the word ‘awful’ when describing Sadio Mane’s injury for Liverpool on Sunday.
The Senegal international was taken off after 71 minutes of the Reds’ 2-1 win at Chelsea.
Klopp didn’t say that the injury itself was ‘awful’ but he did say that it was an ‘awful combination’, with Mane suffering a ‘knock around the knee bone’ and a dead leg.
In any case, it doesn’t sound all that good. It remains to be seen when the Liverpool star is back in action, but his team-mate could be forgiven for wondering if this finally opens the door for him.
Xherdan Shaqiri, who earns £80,000 per week on Merseyside [Spotrac], made headlines last week [Teleclub] after admitting that he was unhappy with the amount of time he has played this season – 11 minutes in the Premier League.
The Switzerland international, like Mane, is a winger and maybe, just maybe, he could find himself being used a little bit more if the former Southampton flyer is set for a spell on the sidelines.
Attitude is a big thing for Shaqiri.
If Klopp notices that the former Bayern Munich star is hungry in training, trying to put himself in the picture in light of Mane’s injury, then that’ll speak volumes. If he doesn’t see this as an opportunity to play himself into contention, however, then he simply isn’t made of the right stuff.
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