When Xherdan Shaqiri joined Liverpool there was little fanfare about his signing. His impact has been better than expected, however.
Liverpool eventually came out on top in their home fixture over Fulham in the Premier League on Sunday. The Reds won 2-0 after some first-half scares and what seemed like a perfectly good Aleksandar Mitrovic goal was rule out for offside.
However, one of Liverpool’s most impressive players, yet again, was a certain 5’6″ Swiss international. The left-footed attacking midfield dynamo, Xherdan Shaqiri, was the passionate bundle of energy Liverpool fans have already become familiar with in his early months in the red jersey.
For a fee of just over £13million, Shaqiri was a relative steal in today’s transfer market. His fee was linked to a relegation release clause that was part of his contract. At that price, Shaqiri was considered to just be joining the Merseysiders to improve the quality of players available to Jurgen Klopp from the bench.
Yet, in a limited amount of game time so far, Shaqiri has scored two goals and provided three assists for the team. Also, the work rate and eagerness displayed by the former Stoke player when his team is out of possession has not gone unnoticed with the Liverpool faithful.
Shaqiri’s first goal for the club, against Cardiff, was a fantastic finish in a crowded area. He made room for himself with a little drop of his left shoulder before beating the defender in front of him and finishing coolly into the bottom corner.
For his goal against Fulham, Shaqiri displayed fantastic levels of composure and technique to place a first-time controlled volley into the net after a fantastic deep cross from Andy Robertson. The ball was in the air for what seemed like an age so for Shaqiri to be able to remain calm as he knew what was expected of him before the ball finally arrived at his feet is commendable.
Shaqiri is showing that he wants and, most importantly, deserves more playing time within this Liverpool attack. He can be the player who holds the key to unlocking teams set up with a low-block defence, which is often the case at Anfield.
To enable Shaqiri to fit into the Liverpool setup, Klopp can look to the 4-2-3-1 shape which he has used for home games against Cardiff, Red Star Belgrade and yesterday, Fulham.
It may be a case that we are talking about Liverpool’s ‘fantastic four’ forwards – Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Shaqiri – as a regular line-up before too long.
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