Ian Wright has suggested Xherdan Shaqiri has been frozen out of the Liverpool team due to a behind-the-scenes issue.
Speaking on Radio 5 Live’s Monday Night Club (18 March, 29:40), Wright is baffled the Switzerland international has made just two starts since early January and is not even getting action as a substitute.
He said: “What’s happened to Shaqiri? He brought [Daniel] Sturridge on in front of him [against Fulham]. He’s brought other players on in front of Shaqiri.
“We know Shaqiri has made a difference earlier in the season. You say his form’s dipped, but it seems to me that something’s happened.”
OPINION
Wright has been in football, and around footballers and dressing rooms, long enough to know that valuable and fully fit players aren’t just frozen out for no good reason. What is perplexing is not that the Switzerland international is not in the starting XI all the time, but that he can’t even get game time as a substitute. The man who came off the bench to score twice against Manchester United in December has been overlooked in favour of Sturridge, Divock Origi and Adam Lallana over the last two months even though none of that trio have made as big an impact as Shaqiri this season. He’s scored six goals from 28 matches, but has been an unused substitute for the last six games, two of which were drawn 0-0. That can’t just be because the Swiss doesn’t track back enough – hardly Sturridge’s forte – or his positional play isn’t quite up to the mark. As Wright suggests, there is no smoke without fire and a bust-up with the Liverpool coaching staff could be at the heart of it.