Liverpool Reject Xherdan Shaqiri Loan Bid From Roma
14 January 2020 08:58
Liverpool have rejected Roma's offer to take forward Xherdan Shaqiri on loan for the remainder of the season.
Roma lost exciting youngster Nicolò Zaniolo to a season-ending ACL injury during a recent 2-1 loss to Juventus, so they have begun looking around for emergency reinforcements to try maintain their push for Champions League qualification.
Plenty of names have been discussed, and Sky Sport Italia claim one player who has already been mentioned is Shaqiri, who is far from a first-team regular at Anfield.
A combination of injuries and competition for places has restricted Shaqiri to just ten appearances for Liverpool this season, and he is even said to be ready to return to Italy on loan for the rest of the campaign.
However, Fabrizio Romano claims that Liverpool swiftly rejected Roma's proposal as they have absolutely no interest in offloading Shaqiri during the January transfer window.
Jürgen Klopp sees the Swiss international as a core part of his squad. Shaqiri is viewed as a good impact substitute who is also capable of stepping into the starting lineup when any of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mané or Roberto Firmino need a rest, and Klopp does not want to lose that option.
Whether that decision will please Shaqiri or not remains to be seen. During the summer, he insisted that he wanted to stay at Anfield, but later went on to admit that he wanted to find a solution to his 'disappointing' lack of game time.
That would explain why Sky Sport Italia believe Shaqiri is 'ready' to make a temporary return to Italy, where he spent six months on loan with Inter during the 2014/15 campaign.
However, Klopp appears to have put his foot down on this one, with Shaqiri likely to remain at Liverpool until the summer at least.
With a move for Shaqiri now looking unlikely, Roma have turned their attention to Inter's Matteo Politano and are prepared to swap him for left-back Leonardo Spinazzola, while a potential move for AC Milan's Suso is also suggested.
