Manchester United legend Paul Scholes says Thiago Alcantara is not a ‘Jurgen Klopp type player’ and is better suited to the Red Devils.
Scholes has been watching Alcantara with interest since he joined Liverpool from Bayern Munich last year.
Alcantara come in for some criticism after failing to light up the Premier League in the manner many thought he would, and Scholes thinks he is being used incorrectly.
He told Premier League productions: “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.
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“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 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.”
Alcantara has never been seen as a player to deliver lots of goals from midfield but the Spain international is still yet to provide an assist.
Having suffered a nasty injury in the first Merseyside derby of the season last year, it took months for him to have a run in the team.
Klopp recently responded to criticism of his midfielder, telling Sky Sports: “He came in late, which is just the nature of some transfers, then he got Covid, got injured, and still had to adapt to a new team – and a team which was not exactly flying with no problems at all.
“We’ve had to rebuild the team pretty much every three days because of changing the last line (of defence) and changing a lot of things, so that’s just really unlucky for Thiago.
“But he has played some exceptional games and had some exceptional moments on the pitch, and he is so respected in the squad.
“It’s just a public perception. “Oh, Thiago is in and we don’t perform well anymore.” These kind of things are just b******s, let me say it like that. They are just not right.
“Everybody needs time to adapt. Bayern played a different style, in a different league, and were much more dominant in the Bundesliga than any team can be in the Premier League.
“So, that’s all different. But thank God, we are all smart enough to judge the situation correctly here. Thiago can play better football, yes, of course, but we all can play better football. No doubt about it,” he concluded.
