Report: Liverpool FC submit bid for Xherdan Shaqiri

According to Kicker, Liverpool FC have submitted an official bid to acquire the services of Xherdan Shaqiri. This report does not mention financials, but based on previous reports, I'd expect anywhere in the range of €10M to €20M (most likely closer to €20M)

Welp.

That this bid comes just one day after Xherdan Shaqiri spoke in Switzerland about having serious misgivings about his playing time at Bayern Munich under Pep Guardiola, should be no surprise to anyone."It's clear that I cannot continue like this. If nothing changes, I will have to make some changes myself. I want to play in the important games as well and not just in the Bundesliga. I don't want to go through another year like this." Shaqiri said to reporters before continuing on to state that only a foreign Champions League club challenging for a title was an option, and specifically mentioning moving to England. The fact that Xherdan Shaqiri only wants to move to a Champions League and title contending club narrows down the list of available options to about 10 clubs between the other top three leagues in Europe, of which Liverpool are one.

The first concern I have with this attitude from Shaqiri is that he was injured for extensive periods of time this last season. Pep Guardiola teams are holistic entities, and if a player isn't regularly training it's pretty easy to be far down the list in terms of preparedness for any game. That probably goes double for Guardiola's Bayern Munich given the tactical flexibility he demands.

That said, losing Xherdan Shaqiri would be an enormous problem for Bayern Munich. Not only does Xherdan Shaqiri appear to be the natural successor to Franck Ribery, the Swiss internationals skillset makes him a valuable component across the entire attacking midfield band. While his season under Pep Guardiola, was definitely rough and tumble juxtaposed to his fantastic year under Jupp Heynckes, there's every reason to believe Xherdan Shaqiri is going to occupy a more critical role in this team moving forward, especially given the worrying form of Franck Ribery over the last 6-9 months.

Given the World Cup, Bayern Munich will most likely drag their heals on this until well after the tournament is complete, so I wouldn't expect any real movement for at least a month. But certainly don't be surprised to see other teams throw their hat in this ring.