Thiago Alcantara’s future remains shrouded in mystery amid his ongoing wait on the sidelines owing to fitness concerns.

The Spaniard’s boots haven’t graced the pitch since April and his seen his return hit with delay after delay as setbacks littered his recovery efforts following a successful hip surgery.

Despite the January window representing Liverpool’s best chance of securing some value from the player before his contract expires next summer, however, the club appears to be set on holding their man.

“I’ve had some fans asking me about stories involving Thiago Alcantara and a surprise potential return to Barcelona this January,” Fabrizio Romano exclusively informed CaughtOffside.

“Of course we know that Barca are now short in midfield after the lengthy injury to Gavi, but it’s too early to know if they’re going to replace him, or who they could target.

“With Thiago, I’m not aware of concrete talks with Barca so far. As I previously reported, Barca’s priority is to register Vitor Roque before deciding on the midfielder situation. For now there are no changes, and no concrete developments on how to act with replacing Gavi.

“It’s also worth remembering that Thiago said no to Saudi clubs in July as he wanted to stay at Liverpool. As far as I’m aware there has been no change to his situation since then.”

Thiago’s last appearance for Liverpool came against West Ham in 2022/23

There’s a very good chance that Liverpool allow Thiago to run down his contract as they have previously with the likes of Gini Wijnaldum and Emre Can.

Prior to that point, of course, it would please many a fan if we could see the Spanish international showcase his talents for the second-half of the season.

The 32-year-old will continue to divide sections of the fanbase thanks to his poor injury record, though there’s no denying the sheer quality he brings.

If this is indeed his last hurrah, we’ll be sad to see him go – and not just for that gravity-defying daisycutter he slammed in past Porto!