Pedro Chirivella becoming the ‘complete midfielder’ since leaving Liverpool

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Nantes ace Pedro Chirivella believes he has ‘improved a lot’ since leaving Premier League giants Liverpool while now describing himself as the ‘complete midfielder’, speaking to the Ligue 1 website. 

In another era, Chirivella may have enjoyed a long, uninterrupted stint at the heart of the Anfield engine room.

It just so happens, however, that the Spaniard’s emergence on Merseyside coincided with the rise of the greatest Liverpool team since their 1980s heyday; Chirivella farmed out to Nice at a time when Jurgen Klopp had Thiago Alcantara, Giorginio Wijnaldum, Jordan Henderson and Fabinho playing some of the best football of their careers. 

Chirivella joined Nantes on a free transfer in the summer of 2020; Klopp himself encouraging the one-time Valencia youngster to seize an opportunity to establish himself as a first-team regular elsewhere. 

Now 25, Chirivella has done exactly that.

But, despite featuring just once in the Premier League, the former Spain youth star still credits the Reds for playing a key role in his development. 

Former Liverpool man Pedro Chirivella now the ‘complete midfielder’

“It is especially at the physical level that my time at Liverpool helped me a lot. I struggled with high intensity. It was my weak point when I was younger,” Chirivella explains.

“But I think I’ve improved a lot. I have continued to work on this since my arrival in Nantes.”

Once dubbed the ‘new Xabi Alonso’, Chirivella’s puppet-master playmaking remains his stand-out attribute. The man himself, however, believes he is more than a one-dimensional distributor these days. 

“Yes!,” Chirivella says when asked if he has developed into what the Ligue 1 website labels a ‘complete midfielder’.

“It’s true that, beyond my qualities with the ball, I’ve improved a lot without it. But I still have areas to improve. I have to become even more decisive without the ball. I work for that.

“Since last season, I feel that it is easier for me in these phases of play. I have played more than 100 games since my arrival in Nantes, so it is easier to progress with so much playing time.”