We shouldn't allow Shaqiri's big Euros performances to let us get sentimental 🤷‍♂️

Is it time to free The Powercube?

We need to talk about Xherdan Shaqiri.

The name alone is worthy of conjuring fear in opponents’ hearts, yet, in recent times, we’ve barely seen ‘The Powercube’ (translated from the Switzerland international’s nickname in Germany, ‘Der Kraftwürfe’) do… that.

He’s shown glimpses of his prowess in the famous red - most notably netting a late brace against Manchester United that allowed Liverpool to leapfrog Manchester City to the top of the Premier League summit.

It wasn’t to be that year in terms of bringing back the English top-flight title to Merseyside but it still mattered.

However, that contribution, vital as it was, came from the bench; it’s a setting our No.23 has become very used to and, perhaps, too comfortable with.

Since that first season, the 29-year-old’s impact on games for Jurgen Klopp has dwindled.

Nine goal contributions in 24 league appearances - a pretty reasonable figure - turned into three goal contributions in just as many games the following two terms.

It wouldn’t be fair to ignore injuries - the former Bayern Munich star has had more than his fair share of niggles and serious struggles since making the switch from Stoke City in 2018 - but things just aren’t working out at the moment.

There’s absolutely no questioning the Swiss’ talent, however-

My goodness.

How tired must Liverpool fans be of hearing the sentence: ‘There’s no questioning so and so’s talent’?

How many times have we justified the club holding on to the likes of Naby Keita or, to a lesser extent, Divock Origi, based on that same, tiresome argument?

Much as it is the case for our injury-prone Guinean, and arguably even more so given Shaqiri’s age, we’re at a critical crossroads when it comes to the Swiss playmaker’s future.

With two years remaining on his contract, not to forget the forward’s performances on the international stage, we have the perfect opportunity to capitalise on the attacker’s value.

We’d love nothing more than to see Xherdan succeed at Anfield, but the reality of the situation - prompted by the return of Harvey Elliott and the reported interest in bringing in a new forward - is that he will struggle for minutes, even with an injury-free season.

There’s some element of acknowledgement of this on the player’s part, at least as far as we understood to be the case from the Liverpool star’s comments in response to questions over his future in Merseyside.

“At the moment, I don’t really want to talk about it,” the ex-Bayern Munich star told reporters.

“I have a contract there and after the Euros, I will talk to my agent.

“We will look at the situation and then we will decide how to proceed.”

Perhaps it’s nothing, but you’d think a player who had no intention of leaving would say as much to the press when prompted, right?

We could hardly blame Shaqiri either and certainly wouldn’t hold it against him if he did return from the Euros and was emboldened enough by his international displays to demand a move elsewhere.

We could certainly really do with the money, which could be a relatively significant amount should his performances for Switzerland continue, and the player deserves to get more minutes elsewhere.

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