Liverpool favourites to sign £18m sensation: can Rodgers pull this off?

Clubs like Manchester City, Real Madrid and Barcelona have swallowed up a lot of talent since they’ve been flooded with cash. Over in Manchester players like Scott Sinclair and Jack Rodwell have failed to make the grade and have seen their careers suffer as a result.

The same has happened to countless Madrid and Barcelona players. In truth, this has happened at some stage at just about every club. In the modern game a lot of talent seems to have gone to waste.

Take, for instance, Xherdan Shaqiri over at Bayern Munich. Back in 2011, the young Swiss talent was considered to be one of the best up-and-coming talents in world football. He was a regular for FC Basel, making 41 appearances for the club in his last season (and grabbing 9 goals in the process) and he earned pundit’s attentions with his displays in Europe.

But since moving to Bayern, his career has slowed down. In 2012/13, he made 39 appearances for his new club, scoring 8 goals. In 2013/14, he made 26 appearances and found the back of the net 7 times. This season, he’s played 15 times and he’s only scored 2 goals. That’s not an overly impressive return.

Perhaps the lack of regular game time is getting to him?

Either way, it looks like he’s ready and willing to move on. The Metro recently published an article claiming that Liverpool have ‘stolen ahead’ of the likes of Inter Milan and Juventus in the race to sign Xherdan Shaqiri. I’m sure the Swiss ace would prefer to play in the Premier League, rather than Serie A, but it looks like we’ll discover the truth soon enough.

A couple of weeks ago, The Metro valued Shaqiri at around £18m. It’s unclear if that’s how much The Reds have bid for him, but they fact that they’ve taken the first step is very exciting indeed. Now we just need to hope that Brendan Rodgers and co are able to drag this deal across the line.

Shaqiri could prove to be a key addition for The Reds.

What’s your take? Is Xherdan Shaqiri a good January signing for The Reds?

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