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Paul Merson has predicted that Liverpool are going to get the best from summer signing Thiago Alcantara when the team’s key defensive players start to return from injury.

The Reds signed Thiago in the summer for £20million (BBC) from Bayern Munich, which at the time looked arguably the best piece of transfer business across the whole of Europe.

But the 29-year-old Champions League winner hasn’t had the desired impact at Anfield yet.

The central midfielder missed a big chunk of the opening months of the season with a knee injury, while in the New Year he’s struggled to really find his best.

Sky Sports pundit Merson has suggested that Liverpool’s defensive injuries are impacting Thiago’s influence in the centre of the park, as the likes of Fabinho and Jordan Henderson have had to drop back from midfield to centre-back.

“He comes over here, and it just proves that this is the hardest league in the world by a million miles. But he’s coming into a team that is struggling. He thinks he’s getting time on the ball, trying to make things happen, but it’s just hard,” Merson told Sky Sports.

“When [Virgil] Van Dijk comes back, I think we see a better Thiago. He can see a pass like Kevin De Bruyne. But at the moment he’s having to run around, get the ball back, and that pass is 40, 50 yards away from his own goal. He needs to get the ball on the edge of the box and thread it through the eye of a needle.

“At the moment, it’s the wrong team for him. When they start getting their best players back, and they’re getting the ball to him 30 yards out, he will cause problems. I have no doubt about it.”

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It’s worth noting Thiago has only played 13 Liverpool games so far, but it’s worrying how much he’s struggled at times.

There could be a completely different look to the midfield when Van Dijk and Joe Gomez return to the backline.

The current players need to roll their sleeves up now though to start getting results, as the reigning Premier League champions have now dropped out of the Champions League positions and down to sixth.

Thiago is an extremely technical midfielder and he’s still getting to grips with the physicality in England, which is why perhaps supporters will see the best from him in the Champions League competition that returns on Tuesday night.