Amid the twisting Moisés Caicedo saga between Liverpool and Chelsea, Jörg Schmadtke has received a “silent” transfer reminder of a possible alternative option.
All eyes were on the ever-changing situation around Moisés Caicedo on Friday evening. The ‘will he, won’t he’ decision between Chelsea and Liverpool continues.
But Jörg Schmadtke’s eyes should have been elsewhere, where a former Liverpool target, who is reportedly still on the club’s radar, has drawn attention and sent a timely reminder of his talent.
At one point in the transfer window, Khéphren Thuram was strongly linked with a move to Liverpool, but according to the Daily Mirror, interest in the Frenchman remains and he is on the shortlist of candidates the club could target as they progress of the situation around Caicedo. And as talk of Caicedo continued on Friday, Thuram left signs and sent a timely message on the pitch as Nice kicked off their Ligue 1 season.
The Frenchman put on a show against Lille and showed exactly why he could be an asset to Liverpool in midfield.
Last season, Jurgen Klopp’s side struggled to control the center of the park and have players there able to fend off their opponents’ counterattacks. With his performance against Lille, Thuram showed why he could change that at Anfield.
The Nice midfielder won three of his four tackles and seven duels in 12, running steadily towards the Lille defense with six dribble attempts and two created chances. It was the kind of perfect all-round performance from midfield that made the Frenchman such an attractive target for Liverpool, and as fans went wild on social media amid news of Caicedo and continued doubts about a move to Anfield, the silent message of Thuram on the pitch was a pertinent reminder that there are other options on the market.
A player like Thuram, while not quite comparable to Caicedo, would still be a solid addition for Liverpool and likely enable the club to sign more than one player.
Schmadtke certainly has the power to make it a window of success for Liverpool with around three weeks left to go. Thuram would be an ideal addition, especially considering he would cost a significantly smaller share of the $140m (£111m/€128m) that Liverpool have agreed to sign Caicedo for (according to The Athletic).
At 22, Thuram is only a few months older than Caicedo, and while he has no Premier League experience, he has played far more games and minutes in senior football, which certainly makes him better value for money. Perhaps that performance against Lille would have been enough to trigger a reaction from Liverpool, especially if the Caicedo saga does not end in favor of the Reds.
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