New Liverpool signing Thiago Alcantara’s greatest value to the club will be the influence he has on the players around him, according to assistant manager Pep Lijnders.
The Spain international has already earned rave reviews for his 45-minute cameo in Sunday’s victory over 10-man Chelsea, having only arrived on Friday in a £20million deal from Bayern Munich.
But Lijnders believes the 29-year-old is a role model who will lead by example and raise standards within the team.
“A good team deserves good players and deserves players who add something and he will add something to our team,” said the Dutchman ahead of the Carabao Cup third-round tie against Lincoln.
“With signings you have direct improvements – you put them into the game and things happen – but indirect development is the most important of signings.
“Because he is so calm and he plays so many creative passes all the other players start playing like that.
“This is the power of example, the power of models. He will not only improve our game but improve all the other players.
“Thiago also needs time to understand our game but we also need to understand and use the skills of Thiago.
“There will be different timings, different passes, different dictation of play. We have to stay unpredictable and Thiago gives us unpredictability from the spine of the pitch.
“We want hopefully 11 players who can play the last pass and for sure he is one of the players who can play this last pass.”
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