A former Liverpool player has now made a swift return to the city, having had a brief sojourn in a new role elsewhere.
It’s been an eventful summer for Thiago Alcantara, who finished his four-year spell with the Reds shortly before announcing the end of his playing career. He then returned to Barcelona as a member of Hansi Flick’s backroom staff.
However, as reported by Marca, the 33-year-old has already left his post at Camp Nou after just one month and come back to Merseyside, as he’s required to reside in the UK of the remainder of this year due to tax issues relating to the termination of his contract at Anfield.
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Barcelona had planned for this situation ever before he took up the position, and when January comes, the former Liverpool midfielder can decide whether to resume working with Flick, or to undergo coaching courses so that he can become a manager himself further down the line.
It’s understood that Thiago left Camp Nou staff highly impressed with his work as a liaision between coach and squad, having acted as a translator for the ex-Bayern Munich and Germany boss.
With Thiago returning to Liverpool for the rest of the year, will we see him at Anfield on a few occasions during the first half of the season?
The 33-year-old would be guaranteed a rapturous welcome if he were to attend some of the Reds’ home matches, and he might wish to get involved with the club behind the scenes while waiting for his return to Barcelona, although he may prefer to leave the new LFC coaching staff to their work after a summer of significant change.
It’ll be quite interesting to see what lies in store for the Spaniard, who’s worked under some of the most illustrious managers in the game such as Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti. If his sights are set on coaching, then he has plenty of mentors from whom he can glean invaluable advice and teachings.
Hopefully we’ll see Thiago at Anfield on occasion now that he’s going to be in Liverpool for another few months. It’s just an awful shame that we didn’t get to see more of him on the pitch at the iconic L4 venue, with injuries depriving him of far too much of his playing career towards the latter stages.