Wijnaldum's dilemma over Liverpool & Barcelona

Liverpool’s Georginio Wijnaldum is caught in the middle over a transfer to Barcelona with only one big move left for him, says Jason McAteer.

Georginio Wijnaldum seems to be interested in a move to Barcelona. The Liverpool midfielder will feel separated, says Jason McAteer at the club. This is because he believes he only has one chance of making a good transfer in his career.

The new Barca manager is keen to sign the Dutch midfielder as per Goal. A part of the reason is that he has seen Wijnaldum play for the national team and knows him well.

There is no official transfer request as of yet from the Catalan club. Wijnaldum would like to stay on the Barca radar though with a potential signing before the end of summer.

McAteer understands why the Dutchman wants to move to Barcelona. The recent Thiago Alcantara transfer emerges a new threat for Wijnaldum. The former Bayern player is an excellent option for Jurgen Klopp in the midfield.

The Irishman told FreeSuperTips: “I would love him [Wijnaldum] to stay. He’s one of those players Jurgen [Klopp] looks at as one of the first names on the team sheet.

“He’s very industrious – maybe doesn’t get as many goals as you’d probably like – but he does that job in the midfield, which is the engine room.

“Midfielders of his type win a lot of tackles as well as interceptions, and then go and give it to the players that do the damage, which is usually the front three.

“Thiago is probably more creative than any of the other players we’ve got, and there will be a place for him in certain games because teams like to drop.

“Teams will set out to ask questions of Liverpool, to break them down and try to create something, so Thiago would probably play in those kinds of games.

“Gini’s not getting any younger and is out of contract next season. From the player’s perspective, Ronald Koeman’s gone in at Barcelona and he’ll know Gini extremely well from the Dutch set-up.

“He’s also won everything with Liverpool and his age now comes into effect. His agent is probably saying ‘You’ve got one more big move in your career. It’s Barcelona’. They’re probably going to up his money.

“He’ll be torn at the minute. He doesn’t want to leave Merseyside, but Liverpool’s offer on the table probably doesn’t quite meet Gini’s expectations.”

McAteer thinks that the Spanish international was not the kind of player Klopp would opt for. Although, now that the deal is done and dusted, Liverpool might just release Wijnaldum.

He commented on Alcantara saying: “He is a welcome addition, and you can’t knock his quality. But because of his age and the way Liverpool do their business in the transfer market, he doesn’t really fit the criteria of the business model we’ve seen them [Liverpool] use in the past.

“For a player of that quality, he is relatively cheap, although he did only have a year left at Bayern, he certainly adds something a little bit different to what Jurgen has now.

“We [Liverpool] do have nine or 10 midfielders at the minute and that area of the squad is very strong, albeit with a lot of similar players.

“He does add composure, a great range of passing. He likes to get on the ball, play central and find passes. His weight of pass and decision making is very good.”