‘Thiago is playing a different game to everyone else’ – Owen would watch Liverpool star ’24 hours a day’

Thiago Alcantara is “playing a different type of game than everyone else”, says Michael Owen, with the former Liverpool striker saying the Spain international makes him “want to watch football 24 hours a day”.

The Reds are yet to see as much of a summer signing from Bayern Munich as they had hoped.

A man who helped his former club to a treble triumph in 2019-20 has spent plenty of time stuck on the sidelines, with a bout of Covid-19 and an untimely injury picked up in a derby date with Everton leaving him unavailable to Jurgen Klopp.

Thiago has come back into contention of late, though, and made a couple of promising cameos.

The latest of those came off the bench in an FA Cup third-round win over Aston Villa, with the former Barcelona star replacing Jordan Henderson at half-time in that contest.

Liverpool had been finding the going tough against a young Villa side at that point, but experience and quality eventually shone through in a 4-1 success.

Owen was impressed by Thiago’s contribution, with the ex-Reds frontman telling BT Sport of a classy playmaker: “This fella just makes me want to watch football 24 hours a day.

“The way he looks around, the way he gives it the eyes. There’s nobody in the Premier League, nobody that plays like him.

“He’s playing a different type of game than everyone else. His disguise on passes is unbelievable.”

Eyebrows were raised when Klopp took his captain off at the break against Villa, but the Liverpool boss insists that decision was purely a tactical one and not driven by any fitness concerns for Henderson.

The German tactician told reporters after booking a place in round four: “Hendo and Thiago, it was clear before the game that we do it like this for 45 and 45.

“There is no [injury] problem and no, we had no reservations [over playing].”

Villa had seen their pre-game preparations disrupted by a “significant” coronavirus outbreak, with the Premier League outfit forced to close their training ground and field an Under-23 side as several members of their first-team fold headed into self-isolation.