Liverpool have made champion signings... Baleis why Spurs will be stuck with the also-rans

THE signings of Thiago Alcantara by Liverpool and Gareth Bale by Tottenham in the space of 24 hours last week proved one thing.

That champions do things one way; the rest another.

Thiago had no relationship whatsoever with Liverpool before they decided to sign him. It was just a case of Kop boss Jurgen Klopp looking at his squad, looking at Thiago, and saying: ‘He has what we’re missing, let’s get him in’.

That’s completely at odds with the Spurs move for Bale, who has been brought back to north London only because he used to play for them.

Yes, Bale (main picture) is world-class at the top of his game. But he managed only 20 appearances for Real Madrid last season and how many 31-year-olds, however good they have been, will be on the radar of current or wannabe champions when they ’ve barely played for a year?

That’s why it’s a purely emotional move and one that could work but only with a fair wind. Champions do not rely on fair winds, though: only also-rans do that.

Which is why Liverpool will be fighting for the title and Spurs will be scrapping to finish in the top six again in a season when, with the right investment, they could easily have been finishing top four.

You c oul d t e l l wi t h i n seconds of Thiago (below) coming on against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday that he will give champions Liverpool a new dimension.

The 29-year-old midfielder has the kind of footballing sixth sense that Paul Scholes had, something that gives him an extra split-second on the ball compared to those he is playing against.

And when you get a player who can think quickly and take you with speed from a defensive passage of play on to the front foot, you have to cherish him because he is absolute golddust.

I said after

Liverpool’s game against Leeds last week that five or six times last season when I was at Anfield they struggled to break opponents down and that better teams might easily have taken advantage.

But Thiago week in and week out in the Bundesliga played against teams who got bodies behind the ball, especially in the first 15 or 20 minutes, so he knows exactly how to work that bit of magic.

I look at Thiago’s signing and think it’s the kind that teams can make when things are going their way, like they are for Liverpool right now.

He’s an international with a top European country, a serial winner who is a good age, and who has come at a good price.

There was never any chat of the Spain international going elsewhere, the deal just fell nicely into place.

When things aren’t going your way, potential deals come with strings attached.

For example, the agent is pimping the player out to six or seven clubs, the price keeps getting higher and, when he walks through the door, there’s a bit of an attitude as well. Yet there doesn’t seem to b be any arrogance with new Anfi Anfield arrival Thiago.

O Or indeed with the other Live Liverpool signing, Diogo Jota fro from Wolves (left).

Thiago seems quite a h humble guy and he will fit i in alongside Virgil van D Dijk, Mo Salah , Sadio M Mane and Co with ease.

His move to Liverpool is pe perfect for the player and the club. Which is not somethin thing you could say about Bale Bale’s return to Tottenham.