Xherdan Shaqiri: Liverpool’s unheralded hero

This past summer, Liverpool looked to supplement their attacking trio of Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane. The Reds looked to make a big splash and pursued the wonderfully talented French attacking midfielder Nabil Fekir from Lyon. As negotiations continued and eventually broke down, Liverpool turned towards a cheaper and less heralded option: Xherdan Shaqiri.

While we will never know what Liverpool’s future would have been like with Fekir, it would be hard pressed for the Frenchman to be as vital as Shaqiri has been for the Merseyside club this season.  Shaqiri has served as a monumental difference maker, who many would consider on the short list as the club’s player of the season so far.

While Shaqiri’s performance this season was not wholly unexpected, it has been a pleasant surprise. Shaqiri has shown plenty of talent at previous clubs like FC Basel, Inter Milan and Bayern Munich although his time at Stoke City was underwhelming.  As Stoke counted on the Swiss Albanian forward to be a pivotal attacking option, with only 15 goals in 84 appearances with the club, he did not deliver on the Potters hopes.  To go with his lack of performance, many of his teammates criticised Shaqiri for his lack of professionalism and his belief that he was “above the club.”

Upon comparing Shaqiri’s performances with the Swiss national team and his time at Stoke, it does appear that there is validity to some of the criticism.  Seeing the diminutive winger score 22 goals in 78 appearances with the National team and four goals at the past two World Cups, the Potters may have been correct in their belief that Shaqiri’s effort was getting in the way of production.

It does however seem that a move to a bigger club, like Liverpool, has brought about an adjusted attitude.  Shaqiri’s role as a super substitute has done wonders for both the club and his own confidence. He has played in 15 matches so far this season (coming on as a sub in six of those matches) and has netted six goals and two assists.

Shaqiri’s breathtaking pace, especially when he comes on as a substitute, puts pressure on opposing defenders that they have trouble handling in the 60-70th minute onwards and his stout, muscular stature assures that he rarely gets muscled off the ball.

What has really allowed him to transform Liverpool’s attack are his instincts.  Shaqiri’s natural instincts as a scorer and attacker have perfectly merged with Liverpool’s attacking system.  With Shaqiri adding to the great attacking trio of Mane, Firmino and Salah, it has created a high pressure attack frustrating opponents with their front four attacking players, and allowing the rest of the lineup to be a bit more defensively oriented.  This has allowed for a squad that now scores a goal every 28 minutes.

While Shaqiri’s success heralds a player fulfilling some of his potential, it also speaks to something else: Jurgen Klopp’s masterclass ability as a man manager. Klopp’s ability to convince a very proud attacking player with a healthy ego to accept a mostly substitutes role within the squad exemplifies the German’s ability to manager players on such a high level. Shaqiri seems to feed off of the energy the German manager exudes and it has allowed him to accept a lesser role but lean into a greater purpose.

With Shaqiri seemingly in perfect alignment with the rest of the squad, Jurgen Klopp has put together a squad that is in line to accomplish something that Liverpool has waited 26 years to accomplish: a Premier League trophy.