The Jurgen Klopp era will forever be remembered by Liverpool fans.
What the now-departed coach brought to the club was history-making, trophy-winning, dramatic and entertaining of the highest order.
One of the great things about that Liverpool era is that they didn’t splash the cash like their rivals or buy proven star after proven star to get them to the top.
Instead, they brought in players who were threatening to become world stars, or in other cases, players who had relegation on their CV.
Several players had that. £10 million left-back Andy Robertson with Hull City and Gini Wijnaldum with Newcastle United.
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But one forgotten man, who is now showcasing his worth at Euro 2024, is Switzerland star, Xherdan Shaqiri, who spent three years at Liverpool after departing in 2021 to join Lyon and he is now in the MLS with Chicago Fire.
Paul Merson and Jeff Stelling waxed lyrical about Shaqiri’s ‘unreal’ and ‘mind-blowing’ goal that helped Switzerland record a 1-1 draw against Scotland in their second group game.
After a poor back pass by Celtic star Anthony Ralston, the ex-Red, rather than take a touch, just hit the ball first time from the edge of the box and curled the ball into the top corner.
It was a stunning effort from the player and Merson agreed with Stelling that he is someone who has always been a ‘talent’ as he proved during his days at Anfield and Stoke City.
But Stelling then stated that Shaqiri ‘doesn’t look like a footballer’ given his build and Merson couldn’t help but agree with the legendary presenter, as he told Football’s Greatest.
Xherdan Shaqiri at Euro 2024 with Switzerland
“I felt for poor Anthony Ralston, you make a mistake, you expect him to get punished the way Shaqiri punished him,” laughed Stelling.
Merson responded: “People sit there and say ‘it’s a bad mistake’. I am sitting there thinking, it’s not really a bad mistake. It’s just an unbelievable goal. When he hits it, I am like ‘what are you doing?’ It’s mind-blowing. The goal is unreal. To do what he has done. If he doesn’t score, you sit there and go ‘what are you doing?’. I can’t believe he took it on. The lad is a talented player. He did some special things at Stoke and Liverpool.”
Stelling added: “You look at Shaqiri. He doesn’t look like a footballer, does he? I mean, he is 5ft 7 in. Well, he is like me in a way. Little short legs. He just doesn’t look like a footballer.”
Merson agreed: “He doesn’t. He has got really big calves as well. But he’s a talent. I see him at Liverpool and Stoke do things and you are like ‘wow’.”
Xherdan Shaqiri a man for major tournaments
The 32-year-old has now scored in his last six major tournaments and he has more goals in a World Cup and a European Championship than the likes of Wayne Rooney.
You just can bet your bottom dollar, come the next World Cup in the USA, he will be rocking up to that tournament once again and scoring those worldies.
READ MORE: BBC pundit is not surprised Liverpool are interested in Euro 2024 star
You just question why he hasn’t been able to perform at a consistent level at the highest level because he should have done a lot more in his career.
The fact that he is in America now when he is still 32 is proof of that because he should still be playing at the highest level.
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