Jurgen Klopp believes Xherdan Shaqiri's versatility means he can play a key role as he admitted Liverpool had missed the Switzerland international.
Shaqiri has enjoyed a renaissance this season having come close to leaving the club before last month's transfer deadline.
The 29-year-old provided the assist for Diogo Jota's winner against West Ham United on Saturday after coming off the bench to play in attacking midfield for only his third Premier League appearance of the calendar year.
Shaqiri has started as a number eight against Lincoln City in the Carabao Cup and FC Midtjylland in the Champions League, and also featured on the right wing when a substitute at Ajax.
And the Reds boss has indicated the midfielder has become a significant option once again.
"Shaq has played an incredibly important role after a difficult time, and is important to us," said the Reds boss.
"Shaq can play on the wings, he has everything for that. He's a great player and has played for Switzerland as a 10. They know a lot about football there, and they wouldn't play him there if they thought he was better in another position.
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"Shaq is a versatile offensive player. He has played for us as an 8, on the wing, and a 10 when he came on (against West Ham). That's all the positions he can play.
"He is a really good player and has made a massive impact in pretty much all of the games he has played. He was part of some of the biggest games in our recent history. I'm just happy to have him back."
Shaqiri has made just five starts since May 2019 but has now featured in three of Liverpool's last four games and will be vying for a place in the line-up for Tuesday's Champions League clash at Atalanta.
"It wasn't that he wasn't involved for disciplinary reasons, he was injured unfortunately," said Klopp. "Sometimes players have a bad run with injuries, and that's what he had.
"It's not that he was injured that often, it's just the calf gave him some problems and now everything is fine.
"It is good for him and even better for us because we missed him last year in a lot of moments. It's not that we wanted to keep him out of the team."
Asked if Shaqiri, who arrived from Stoke City in the summer of 2018, was enjoying a fresh start to his Anfield career, Klopp said: "That's how it always is. The transfer window is there for rumours and sometimes for talks. We are rarely involved in these things, and what happens out there (in rumours) I'm not even aware of.
"I'm now really happy he is here, and all the rest will start when the next transfer window opens. we will see.
"But nothing really to say for now. The last transfer window feels like it was four years ago."
