Report: Liverpool considering approaching Bayern Munich over Xherdan Shaqiri

A report dropped in an English newspaper yesterday that caught my eye. The Metro reports that "Liverpool eye Xherdan Shaqiri after missing out on Henrikh Mkhitaryan". Well, that's interesting. Since I'm not up to date on my rankings of English tabloids on a scale of "1 to LOLOLOLOL", I decided I would ask around. The best answer that I was given was "LOLOL, give or take an LOL", so I feel like we shouldn't take this particular rumor too seriously.

However, two parts of the article did actually interested me, and I felt like it would be a good discussion.

The first:

Bayern are unlikely to part with Shaqiri without a fight, despite splashing out £30million on Mario Gotze this summer, but would be interested in loaning him out.

However, Liverpool are only keen on a cash deal, and will now approach Bayern to talk terms.

And the second:

It's thought that Rodgers would be willing to pay up to £20 million to get his man.

I do want to say that I do not believe that Shaqiri will be wearing a shirt other than that of Bayern Munich throughout the 2013-2014 season, and it's very possible (likely, even) that most of this particular article was written with "sources".

Shaqiri will not be sold by Bayern Munich this summer beyond an astronomical bid from someone. Is £20 million (€23.3 million) an astronomical figure for Shaqiri? No, it's not, but it is a good number after a year in Munich. Bayern paid €11.6 million for Shaqiri last year, according to Raphael Honigstein. Shaqiri's value doubling after one season in which he was not first choice is fantastic business in the grand scheme of things. Do you believe that's a fair value for him?

The other part is regarding the "fact" that Bayern would be interested in loaning Shaq out. While this hasn't been discussed anywhere that I've seen, I'm not a fan of loaning Shaqiri anywhere. He was far too valuable to the club last season in winning the treble, and since he can play multiple positions, his role under Pep Guardiola could likely expand this upcoming season. He should stay at Bayern this season, but I can see a club like Liverpool being interested in a great player like Shaqiri. They don't have many (any?) of them anymore at Anfield.

I wouldn't put too much stock into this rumor, but it does bring up some interesting discussion points on Shaqiri.