Liverpool's new signing Thiago Alcantara has revealed how he spoke to two former Reds before deciding to join Anfield.
The club confirmed the signing of Thiago on a four-year-deal on Friday afternoon, with Liverpool's new No.6 set to train with his new teammates later in the day.
There had been weeks of speculation linking the Spaniard with a move to Anfield, with reports claiming Thiago was "desperate" to play for Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool.
Having put pen to paper, Thiago told LFCTV that he spoke to former Liverpool stars Xabi Alonso and Philippe Coutinho before making this "last" step in his career.
Asked whether he had spoken to any former Reds, Thiago said: "Yeah, for sure.
"But [we spoke] more than just the football aspect. Because Liverpool are what they are for the last few years and decades: they perform amazingly and raise their game every year as much as they can.
"But more than that, I spoke about the family and life aspect: how the city is, where to go, how life is.
"People like Xabi Alonso and Philippe Coutinho helped me a lot to take this last call."
Thiago was teammates with Alonso for four years before the former Liverpool midfielder retired in 2017, while Coutinho joined Bayern on loan last year and instantly formed a close friendship with Thiago.
Image: Getty Images
Meanwhile, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp admitted he has always admired Thiago, but "never as a potential transfer" due to his standing at the Bavarian club.
"A player like Thiago – settled that much at Bayern – is usually out of reach for pretty much everybody. If the player doesn't want [to move] massively then you have no chance," Klopp said.
"You see that Bayern have long, long, long-term contracts with their main players. And Thiago was a main player for Bayern over the years.
"I know all the people at Bayern wanted to keep him desperately, that's normal and understandable because he played an important role, in the last season as well.
Thiago Alcantara
"He just was ready for a new challenge and he decided for us. And that's a compliment actually because he knows the Premier League is tough but he wants to come to the Premier League; he knows we have a good team but he wants to come to this team.
"When we spoke about all the players, he respects them all massively. He admires them. We played against him when we played Munich in the Champions League two years ago, so he knows what kind of machine we can be and he wanted to be part of that.
"It is about the club, it's about the team, that he wanted to join us. That's really cool. But did I think about him earlier? I thought a lot about him but never as a potential transfer, to be honest."
