Ex-Liverpool player urges Reds to pursue familiar transfer route for £10m Palhinha alternative

Joao Palhinha is a name which has been prominent on the Liverpool transfer rumour mill in recent weeks and months, although a potential cut-price alternative has been mooted by one former Red.

While the Fulham midfielder would likely cost a minimum of £50m (Football Transfers), Don Hutchison has put forward the name of RB Leipzig’s Xaver Schlager, who they signed from Wolfsburg in 2022 for approximately £10m (Get Football News Germany).

Speaking on the BBC Radio 5 Live Football Daily Podcast, the 52-year-old implored the Reds to sign a specialist number 6 in January, and he made the case for the Austria international.

Hutchison said: “Liverpool can’t win the league in my opinion if they don’t sign a specialised number six. Palhinha at Fulham, I think he’s amazing. There’s a guy at Leipzig called Xaver Schlager, an Austrian guy, he’s amazing and very disciplined in his position.”

Liverpool are no strangers to raiding Leipzig for their standout players, having signed Naby Keita, Ibrahima Konate and Dominik Szoboszlai from the Bundesliga outfit in recent years (Transfermarkt).

Valued at €22.8m (£19.8m) by Football Transfers, Schlager is a seasoned campaigner in the German top flight, as well as Europe’s two main club competitions, with almost 300 senior appearances to his name (Transfermarkt).

A box-to-box midfielder in the mould of Bastian Schweinsteiger, the 26-year-old has been described as a ‘tough-tackling and hard-running’ engine room operator by former Leipzig sporting director Christopher Vivell, while ex-Austria head coach Franco Foda has spoken highly of his versatility (Bundesliga.com).

He’s in that sweet spot of boasting ample experience while still having plenty of his career ahead of him, so he could be someone who’d make an instant impact at Liverpool instead of being one for the future.

He’d be a cut-price alternative to Palhinha if LFC want to go down the Red Bull route once more. Could Jorg Schmadtke put his Bundesliga connections to good use again next month? Let’s wait and see…