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Things have been quiet on the Xherdan Shaqiri front of late. Whether this is indicative of Liverpool's interest in the stocky winger declining, interest of the bidding variety in Lazar Markovic increasing, or just a symptom of other transfer distractions they're currently facing, little has tied der Kraftwürfel to a move to Merseyside since his brother-slash-agent was allegedly in London less than two weeks ago to negotiate a contract with the club.
Liverpool will almost certainly have a need to increase fire power up front if a certain someone ends up departing as planned, but if Shaqiri is still in their plans then they'll need to act quick as reports out of Italy have AS Roma setting their sights on Shaqiri as well. Reportedly already in talks, Bayern Munich's price tag still appears to be €20M/£16M, same as the alleged bid Liverpool already submitted.
Rome may have a certain allure for a player used to living in some of Europe's top cities, but the one thing Rome doesn't have is Premier League football, which can be a huge draw in and of itself. Whether Shaqiri prefers the Tiber to the Mersey remains to be seen, but Liverpool will need to step up their game if they're still series about securing Shaqiri's signature.
But all hope is not lost for those who still want to see Shaqiri swap Bayern red for Liverpool red next season. Conspiracy theorists have noted that Shaqiri features briefly in a promo video for FIFA 2015 amongst a series of much higher profile players than himself, players who largely ply their trade in the Premier League. It seems incredibly likely, then, that a video game developer would have advanced knowledge of confidential transfer deals before they happen simply to make their game more credible upon release. Or it could just be a coincidence, but what fun is that?
