Manchester United legend Paul Scholes has bizarrely claimed that Thiago doesn’t have the energy to thrive for this Liverpool side.
The Spaniard arrived from Bayern Munich last summer, in what was a hugely exciting signing at the time.
Thiago has missed three months through injury this season, however, and is still looking to fully find his feet in a Reds shirt.
Speaking to Premier League Productions [via HITC], Scholes says he isn’t convinced the 29-year-old is suited to Liverpool’s style of play:
The way Liverpool play with the three in midfield, I don’t think he has great legs about him, so that central role would suit him down to the ground.
Once you are in a wider position in the three, it’s very difficult to get around the pitch because he’s not that type of player. He’s not someone who is going to be running out to a left-back. It’s just not his game.
He just needs to be sat in the middle. Controlling things, bringing players into play and that’s what he’s good at – I just wonder if this way of playing that Liverpool play is suited to his style of football.
He doesn’t seem a Jurgen Klopp type player, does he? You think of the midfield players he has got and the forward players. Everything is 100 miles per hour.
I thought he would have been more suited to a Manchester United team. In a two in midfield with a holding player, really good strong defensive player, where he can sit and control games.
Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool, I don’t see them controlling games. I see them going for the throat in teams. He hasn’t got that energy to really overpower midfield players.
Read Liverpool Verdict
This is just the latest strange opinion regarding Thiago, who seems to be painted as a one-paced midfielder who can only do one specific job in midfield.
The truth is that the Spain international is a midfielder full of energy and defensive nous, who is more than capable of excelling for Liverpool.
Granted, he may not be quite as physical and energetic as the likes of Jordan Henderson and Gini Wijnaldum, but he still covers ground and does the gritty side of things, committing 2.2 fouls per game in the Premier League this season.
Thiago can only be fully judged when key defenders and midfielders return and he is able to express himself in a confident, in-form Liverpool side.
