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Thiago explains injury issue that has held him back at Liverpool and left him playing through pain
The Spain international playmaker took a while to get going in his debut campaign with the Reds, but he hopes to have shaken his shackles
Thiago Alcantara has revealed that he played through pain in almost all of his debut campaign at Liverpool, with niggling hamstring complaints holding him back.
Big things were expected of the Spain international midfielder when he joined the Reds in 2020 from German giants Bayern Munich.
A testing season for all concerned at Anfield saw a talented 30-year-old take a while to find his feet, as questions were asked of his value to the cause, but Thiago claims there were mitigating circumstances.
What has been said?
The Spain international has told Liverpool's official website when asked for an update on his fitness: "The last season I started with – from a long time before that – some pain up there in the hamstring, between the glutes, old pain.
"I was never clean to play because I was always with that pain and there's a point during the end of the last season that I started to feel [it] more and more. And with the national team, I couldn't even sprint in some terms, I couldn't do some actions.
"So I try to start the pre-season, always in agreement with the medical team, to [do] individual work to clean the area a bit more and to be without more pain.
"So we are at that point now that we try to take it out and, at the same point, to stay with the team."
Is there more to come from Thiago?
Thiago eventually settled on Merseyside as the 2020-21 campaign wore on and filled a more prominent role as Liverpool secured a third-place finish and Champions League qualification.
He took in 30 appearances across all competitions, with 24 of those outings coming in the Premier League.
Just one goal was recorded by a man that has shown in the past that he can make more of an impact in the final third, with Thiago acknowledging that he can take his game to greater heights in 2021-22.
He added: "I'm never pleased with my performance, I always want more and more and more and more.
"The minimum we have to give is how we ended with these wins, with these extraordinary moments. But at the end, it was just about pushing because of the situation that we had.
"We weren't happy enough, so we were pushing to be as happy as we could. But now we start from zero and we want everything, we want to win everything again."
Liverpool have further friendly dates against Athletic Club and Osasuna to come, before opening their new domestic season away at Norwich on August 14.
