'No return' - Liverpool accused of WASTING MONEY on departing star

TalkSPORT pundit Tony Cascarino has heaped praise on outgoing Liverpool midfielder Thiago Alcantara but has questioned the finances involved with the transfer.

The 33-year-old arrived at Anfield from Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich during the 2020 summer transfer window for a reported £20million fee which could eventually rise to £25m with bonuses.

However, it's safe to say Liverpool fans have not been able to see the best of the talented midfielder on a consistent basis due to bad luck with injuries and he endured a frustrating 2023/24 campaign.

Ahead of a summer of big change at Liverpool, it has been announced that Thiago along with Joel Matip will depart upon the expiry of their contracts at the end of next month, prompting Cascarino to give both players their flowers.

"Great servants to the club and you mention Thiago aswell, a fabulous footballer," Cascarino said on talkSPORT. "An absolute genius technically, at his best he was a joy to watch, I love watching Thiago.

"Unfortunately the injuries and he doesn't quite cover the demands of the game with the intensive endurance you need to be running, closing down and doing all the graft work. I think it just got a bit beyond him, he's in his 30's now, but incredibly gifted.

No return on Thiago investment

Whilst raising comparisons to Manchester United's deal for Raphael Varane a couple of summers ago, Cascarino believes Liverpool did not get a return on their investment for Thiago considering the midfielder is set to leave on a free transfer.

"This is becoming quite a common theme and I hope we will do a piece on this about Raphael Varane which I'm sure is quite interesting because I've done a bit of numbers on Raphael Varane," he added.

"It's a bit like Thiago where you buy for £30million, pay him a high wage because you took him from Bayern Munich and the cost of him over the course of three or four years can be very expensive and he ends up being given away as a free.

"It's quite an expensive thing to do now for football clubs. You put wages and the transfer fee in, it can get to £70million/80million for that period quite quickly and there is no return."