The European champions are coming to town, for an exciting, early-season top of the table clash. But, before we get into the Chelsea preview, I wanted to talk about two recent developments with broader implications.
First, Xherdan Shaqiri left this week for Olympique Lyon in France. He spent three years as a Red. By all accounts, he filled his position well. But for a string of injuries, he almost certainly would have played a bigger role. Nonetheless, he still gave the club several great moments, including the cross for Gini Wijnaldum’s header in the second leg against Barça. And, Shaq was simply fun to watch, on more than one level. He’s a moment of magic type of player. He’s my favorite kind of player — one who likes to take risks that could lead to big rewards. After he joined the Reds, he cut WAY down on shooting from distance from open play. But, he did score a direct free kick goal or two for LFC. And, his creativity and out-of-the-box maneuvering was just the type of play to bring joy to me while watching a football match. Finally, although Shaqiri understandably requested a transfer this season, by all accounts and appearances, he was a great teammate.
His face shone with joy when his teammates scored or won a match, even when he was only looking on from the bench.
We will miss you, Shaq. You’re going to kill ‘em in Ligue 1.
You may be asking yourself whether, with Shaqiri now out the door, that means that the Reds will be picking up another incoming transfer. After all, Shaqiri’s departure means that the club now has one available spot for a new non-homegrown player. Nonetheless, based on Klopp’s answers at his pre-Chelsea press conference this morning, it seems highly unlikely that the Reds will be buying anyone else this summer. Instead, look for Minamino, Harvey Elliott, and Origi to pick up minutes behind our “Big Four” forwards. And, we’ve already talked quite a bit about midfielder minutes (except that, at that time, I didn’t know that Klopp was planning to use Harvey Elliott as much or more in the midfield as in the forward line).
