Liverpool Reject Roma Approach for Xherdan Shaqiri

Roma found themselves in a spot of difficulty after 20-year-old attacking midfielder Nicolò Zaniolo tore his ACL this week and was ruled out for the rest of the season, and so the Serie A side approached Liverpool about bringing Xherdan Shaqiri in on loan.

Liverpool, though, rejected the approach out of hand, signalling the club have no interest in seeing any current regulars depart this month—not while they’re in the midst of a push to break a 30-year title domestic drought and defend their European title.

That’s according to Sky Italia’s Fabrizio Romano, at least, who led the story on the Reds rejecting Roma, and while it’s impossible to know just how serious any Roma interest in the Swiss international may have been, it’s a believable enough transfer tale.

Roma and Liverpool have dealt often enough in the past that, with Roma in clear need of a new player on short notice, a query about an option who would appear sensible enough on paper and one stuck a little down the Liverpool pecking order makes sense.

It also makes sense that Shaqiri, even if he hasn’t played a great deal so far—and some of that at least has been down to his own injuries—would be a player Jürgen Klopp wouldn’t want leaving, at least not until the current campaign is over.

It would hardly be a surprise to see Shaqiri move on in the summer in search of more regular playing time, but for now, given Liverpool’s own need for quality and depth, no regular in the matchday squads is going anywhere.