When Xherdan Shaqiri was selected to start against Lincoln City on Thursday night, it was a big surprise for me. Even more so when he found the top corner with a stunning free-kick after just eight minutes.
This goal helped us on our way to a 7-2 victory at the LNER Stadium, illustrating that we are not taking the Carabao Cup lightly this season, which is a big relief for me. I’ve always been in the mindset that we should take every competition seriously.
Of course, Shaqiri has not played a great amount of football over the 12 months, mainly due to how competitive the squad has become during that time, and partly due to his reoccurring calf injury. Last season, the 28-year-old only started twice and made a total of seven appearances in the Premier League during our title-winning campaign, scoring just once, as per Whoscored.
Jurgen Klopp previously issued an apology to the Switzerland international but was delighted with his performance the other night while playing in an unfamiliar deeper role than he was usually. With this in mind, this begs the question as to whether he has a long-term future at Anfield.
Will Xherdan Shaqiri leave the club this summer?
Yes
No
Former Liverpool midfielder and Melwood graduate David Thompson doesn’t think so, as he made the following comments on his official Twitter account.
How good was Shaqiri the other night,set pieces where unreal and his passing is amazing great goal and a great attitude was the star man for me…can see him getting a move to a decent team soon another great Micheal Edwards signing👍👏🏻
— David Thompson (@77thomo) September 26, 2020
A headache that Klopp will appreciate
If ever there was a time to prove your manager wrong about not picking you over the past year, our mid-week victory was exactly that.
Shaqiri will take a lot of confidence from his showing, regardless of the calibre of opposition, in the aim that he can be selected for Sunday’s Premier League game against Arsenal.
I’m in the same mindset as Thompson that I can see him moving on if the £14.4m-rated speedster (via TransferMarkt) feels that he won’t get minutes at Anfield this season.
But that decision is yet to be made, which would get more interesting as the season rumbles on. With three years left on his contract, there is no rush.