Liverpool fans were understandably buzzing when Thiago Alcantara arrived from Bayern Munich in September.
The Spain international, 29, had just won the Champions League with Bayern but opted for a move to Anfield in order to join Jurgen Klopp’s Premier League champions.
It felt like a major coup for the Reds. The dictionary definition of a classy midfielder, Thiago was one of last season’s standout performers in Europe’s top five leagues.
He made his debut in a 2-0 win away at Chelsea in September, entering the fray as a second-half substitute and earning widespread praise for immediately dictating the tempo of the game.
He then featured in October’s 2-2 draw against Everton before a knee injury kept him out of action until late December.
Since returning to the fold, however, Liverpool’s results in all competitions have been unexpectedly poor.
As well as losing to Southampton, Burnley and now Brighton & Hove Albion in the Premier League, the Merseyside outfit were also beaten 3-2 away at Manchester United in the FA Cup last month.
Five months after joining the Reds and Thiago is yet to experience a single victory at Anfield - a quite remarkable statistic.
Liverpool went 68 league games unbeaten at Anfield prior to last month’s 1-0 defeat to Burnley and have now lost back-to-back matches on home turf following Wednesday night’s 1-0 loss to Brighton.
Steven Alzate scored the only goal of the game in the second half to leave fourth-placed Liverpool seven points behind league-leaders Manchester City.
Thiago trends on Twitter as rival fans mock him
Thiago, who played the full 90 minutes against Graham Potter’s side, was one of the top trends on Twitter after the match.
Why? Well, rival fans didn’t miss the opportunity to mock the Spaniard following yet another Liverpool defeat.
Let’s check out some of the tweets…
These cheeky tweets are obviously from rival fans having a bit of fun at Liverpool’s expense, but should there be cause for concern that the signing of Thiago has backfired on Klopp?
Just last month, former Liverpool and Bayern midfielder Didi Hamann warned that, in his eyes, Thiago doesn’t suit Liverpool’s style.
“I can tell you, he is a good player, he is a skillful player, but there was never a time in Munich where people said, ‘he’s got to be the first name on the teamsheet’,” the German said on talkSPORT. “So I’m very cautious when it comes to Thiago.
“He plays a different style of football. He likes to be in possession, but Liverpool were always good when they were not in possession, and then when they got in possession they played it quickly forward, and he’s not that type of player.
“So I think it’ll be very interesting when he does play more often now how it’s going to change the dynamics of the team.”
There’s absolutely no doubt that the gifted Thiago is a fantastic footballer.
But at this moment in time, is he a square peg in a round hole at Anfield?