Former Liverpool forward Peter Crouch claims that Xherdan Shaqiri is good enough to break into the club’s starting front three, despite the strength in depth.
Shaqiri, a £13.5million signing from Stoke City in the summer, has impressed in his few appearances for the Reds so far.
Despite signing for a relatively low fee, some fans had questioned the signing in the summer, with Shaqiri deemed only good enough to back up Liverpool’s star front three of Sadio Mané, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino.
However, former England international Crouch believes that Shaqiri is more than good enough to break through. Writing in his MailOnline column, Crouch said:
I knew all about Shaqiri before Stoke signed him. I’d been aware of him at Inter Milan and Bayern Munich and I was, to put it mildly, pleasantly surprised that he arrived in the Potteries.
Shaq, as we got to know him, scored a hat-trick in a five-a-side game. You might think there is nothing unusual about that but when I tell you one of his goals involved him chipping the goalkeeper from about eight yards, you will appreciate why this stayed in my mind.
He did other things that marked him out as different. It was the way he passed the ball, the pace he put on his passes and the quality of the free-kicks he struck. After that first session, I was convinced we had signed a star in the making.
To see him thriving for Liverpool, then, comes as no surprise to me. When he got his move to Anfield in the summer, I said to a few of the lads in our dressing room that he would go there and rip it up and that is what he has been doing over the last few weeks.
People say it is impossible to break up Liverpool’s three-man attack of Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mané when they are all fit but if anyone is going to do it, Shaqiri can. In terms of ability, he is up there with the best I’ve played with. Trust me, he can be whatever he wants to be.
