Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool were linked with Schalke’s Bundesliga ace Amine Harit – but a move to the Premier League leaders looks very unlikely now.
It’s no coincidence that Schalke have slipped down the Bundesliga table at a rate of knots since Amine Harit’s fire burned out.
This little Moroccan with a wand of a right foot spent the first half of the 2019/20 season pulling rabbits out of hats on an almost weekly basis.
By the time Liverpool, the reigning European Kings, had identified the prince of Gelsenkirchen as a £17 million transfer target in November (Corriere dello Sport), a diminutive schemer in the Isco mould had six goals and three assists to his name.
But flash forward four months and the ‘Harit to Liverpool’ train has been derailed – and not just because he signed a new, long-term contract in the autumn.
The French-born wizard has gone from potentially filling a Philippe Coutinho-shaped void in Jurgen Klopp’s workmanlike midfield to collecting splinters on the Schalke bench.
Harit was dropped on Saturday as David Wagner’s side drew 1-1 with Hoffenheim – it had been coming.
“If I said that I am happy, it wouldn’t be true,” he told FussballTransfer after a result that saw the Royal Blues fall ten points adrift of the Champions League places.
It is now 12 games since Harit’s last goal and nine since his most recent assist. Just to add insult to injury, the only game Schalke have won since mid-December came when their most naturally gifted footballer was ruled out with a hamstring strain.
Not only are Harit’s match-winning displays becoming a distant memory. So too are his chances of a big-money move to Liverpool.
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