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By Oyinlola Awonuga (The New Diplomat’s Entertainment, Fashion and Sports Desk) Liverpool is close to agreeing to a deal with last season’s treble winner’s Bayern Munich midfield star, Thiago Alcantara. The initial fee is estimated at £20m but add-ons could take this up to a projected total of £27m. Those add-ons are based on appearances and Liverpool winning trophies. It had initially looked like a deal would be dependent on the future of Gini Wijnaldum, who is also in the final year of his Anfield contract, but Liverpool have decided to make its move for Alcantara now. The former Barcelona player helped Bayern win the treble last season, as they beat PSG in the Champions League final last month in Lisbon, Portugal However, in July Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge revealed that Alcantara had told the club that he wanted a new challenge. Rummenigge admitted that talks between the player and sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic over a new deal had broken down as he wished to leave Germany and said the club would accept a “reasonable price” for him. The Spanish international who started his Soccer career at Barcelona and was handed his debut for the Catalan side by Pep Guardiola in 2009 at the age of 18 has been a spectacular success. He was an unused substitute as Barca beat Manchester United in the Champions League final the following season. Alcantara joined up with Guardiola again in 2013 when the new Bayern boss took him to Bavaria where he went on to win seven Bundesliga titles and four DFB-Pokal cups |
