Thiago Alcantara's influence at Anfield is growing.
The Spanish international was presented with a demanding first year on Merseyside in which he suffered from a notable injury, COVID-19, zero support from an empty stadium, and a significantly weakened Liverpool team around him.
Jurgen Klopp is still yet to see the best from the player who arrived from Bayern Munich last summer but as the Reds have progressed towards securing Champions League football in recent weeks, his prominence has evolved.
Thiago is unlikely to ever become a regular provider of goals and assists given his attachment to the middle third of the pitch, but he can still have an impact on the threat of Liverpool.
He's been described by many as the man to make the pass before the assist, and although that can be difficult to measure, Statsbomb's shot-creating actions metric can help provide insight.
A shot-creating action covers the two offensive actions directly leading to a shot, such as passes, dribbles and drawing fouls.
And Thiago posted 33 of those from his debut against Chelsea to his next meeting with the Blues at Anfield in March, which Liverpool lost 1-0.
Thiago averaged a shot-creating action every 32.1 minutes up until that stage, but in the 793 minutes since, his numbers have received a healthy boost.
He's amassed 28 shot-creating actions since Liverpool's form picked up with a win away to Wolves, averaging one every 28.2 minutes.
The 29 year-old posted as many as six in 90 minutes against West Brom and the same amount just one week later against Burnley, with those two matches witnessing his season-high totals.
The victory over Wolves got the ball rolling, with Liverpool winning eight of their final 10 games and Thiago proving to be central to the upturn in form.
In addition to generally offering more on the offensive side of the game, the midfielder also bagged a goal against Southampton and posted his season-high shot total for a single game this year in the match with West Brom, in which he attempted to find the net four times.
The Reds will make a series of signings over the course of the summer.
But even without squad additions, the impending return of Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez, Joel Matip and Jordan Henderson should help his cause, with those players described as the spine of the team by Klopp himself.
Ultimately, providing everything returns back to normal once the 2021/22 campaign starts in August, Thiago's upwards trajectory should only continue and in 12 months' time, rather than delivering a top four spot, perhaps his influence could be bringing the title back to Anfield.
