Does Liverpool-linked Thiago really want to leave Bayern Munich?

When Thiago signed a new Bayern Munich contract back in April 2017, the midfielder insisted: "I want to win the Champions League with this club. I'll stay here until I win this competition."

Three years on, Thiago still hasn't won the Champions League with Bayern. He does have a winners' medal, of course, from his time at Barcelona.

However, when the Catalans lifted the European Cup at Wembley in 2011, Thiago played just one game in the group stage, against Rubin Kazan, and spent the remainder of the tournament on the bench.

A lack of game time was the main reason why he elected to leave Camp Nou two years later, when a clause in his contract allowed Bayern to snap him up on the cheap. 

Pep Guardiola was able to make him one of his first signings as Bayern boss, for just €18 million (£16m/$20m), because Thiago had not played enough minutes to make a buying club meet his €90m (£80m/$100m) release clause.

Guardiola had pushed hard for Thiago. "I spoke to the club and told them about my concept and told them why I want Thiago," the former Blaugrana boss said at the time. "He is the only player that I want. It will be him or no one."

Thiago has won the Bundesliga title every single season since then, adding four German Cups and three Super Cups along the way, but failing to capture the Champions League – the trophy he got to touch in 2011, but never felt like he deserved.

With Bayern Munich firing on all cylinders under new head coach Hansi Flick, and the dressing room reunited following the disharmony of the Niko Kovac era, the Bavarians are now the favourites to be crowned European champions in August.

Therefore, the news that Thiago wants to leave the Allianz Arena comes as a bit of surprise.

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The 29-year-old was set to sign a new contract in May, with Bayern having met all his demands and ready to announce an official agreement before Thiago changed his mind.

Next came a Bild report claiming that the Spain international had told his team-mates he wanted to join Liverpool.

Transfer speculation around Thiago and other Bayern Munich players is nothing new, of course. In 2018, Bild reported that they would sell Thiago, Jerome Boateng, Arturo Vidal and Juan Bernat if suitable offers were made. In the end, the first two stayed and the latter two were sold.

This time, however, it seems things are different for Thiago. He is still just on the right side of 30 for a transfer to another elite club and Bayern have started to admit that his time in Munich could be coming to an end.

Bayern Munich CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge had hoped that Thiago would sign a new contract, but now seems resigned to losing the playmaker as he enters the last year of his contract.

“He is a top boy on and off the pitch,” Rummenigge told Bild. “We had serious negotiations with him and fulfilled all of his wishes. But it looks like he might want to do something new again at the end of his career."

Rummenigge also responded to the Liverpool links, stating: "We have never had any contact with them. If he wants to do that, we have to deal with it. We don’t want to lose a player for free next year. I say that very clearly.”

Flick is more optimistic that Thiago could sign a new extension, having helped Bayern move closer to another historic treble season by following up the Bundesliga title with the DFB-Pokal.

"The thing is, I always have hope. I'm actually always very positive about things," Flick told reporters.

"I also know, of course, that when you're at a certain age and you've already played in the Spanish league with Barcelona and in the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich, you feel the need to experience another big league. That is quite normal and that is also human.

"I'm trying my best to make sure Thiago stays here and that we can convince him to stay. But that's one thing that time will show.

"We still have the Champions League ahead of us now and we have a lot of plans, also together with him."

Goal

Jurgen Klopp has long been an admirer of Thiago, both from his time managing Borussia Dortmund and then watching him from afar as the Reds pursued RB Leipzig's Naby Keita.

“Naby was two years ago, together with maybe Thiago Alcantara of Bayern, for sure the best player in the Bundesliga by far," the Liverpool manager said said in 2018.

With the Merseysiders having sealed the English title, Keita has now been given a run of games in the team, allowing him to better adapt to Klopp's style.

That is something that can take time for even the best players, such as Fabinho, who needed months to adjust to the Liverpool approach but is now one of their key players.

Thiago's age and recent injury history are big stumbling blocks for any Liverpool move, while there's also the fact that the engine room is already very well occupied at Anfield and Klopp is presently trying to develop younger players like Keita.

Liverpool have other needs in the transfer market this summer, too, while the coronavirus pandemic has affected the majority of clubs in a financial sense.

Thiago may be available for under €35m (£31m/$40m) this summer, but he could find himself going back to Bayern with his tail between his legs as the market for ageing world-class midfielders dries up.

He might just have to keep to his word and stick with Bayern Munich until they do eventually win the Champions League.