Liverpool made a statement of intent towards their title rivals on with the capture of Thiago Alcantara.
The defending Premier League champions completed the signing of the 29-year-old playmaker in a £27.4million transfer from Bayern Munich on Friday afternoon.
Thiago has signed a four-year contract with Jurgen Klopp’s side and will wear the No 6 shirt.
The Spain international, who was in the last year of his deal with the Bundesliga club, arrives for an initial fee of £20m with the rest to follow in add-ons.
‘I think it’s an amazing feeling,’ Thiago, whose paperwork was registered in time for him to be included in the squad to face Chelsea on Sunday, told Liverpool’s official website.
‘I was waiting for this moment for a long time and I am very, very happy to be here.
‘When the years are passing, you are trying to win as much as you can – and when you win, you want to win more.
‘I think this club describes what I am as well; I want to achieve all of the goals, win as many trophies as possible.
‘It also [has] this kind of family [feeling] that I need because we [like to] have a very close relationship with the club and I think I will feel this, I will have this feeling, with this club as well.
‘[The fans] are not more excited than I am, for sure not.
‘It is not about saying words, it is about doing the things. I will give my heart on the field to my team-mates, the club and also to the fans.’
Klopp said: ‘It’s very exceptional because in our situation, a lot of people around us talk constantly – “What are you doing? – bam, bam, bam”.
‘Then preparing something like this, working on all different things you have to work in a transfer like this – with thinking about a player like him already is a joy, to be honest, because it gives us obviously some options.
‘I know all the people at Bayern wanted to keep him desperately, that’s normal and understandable because he played an important role, in the last season as well.
‘He just was ready for a new challenge and he decided for us.
‘It is about the club, it’s about the team, that he wanted to join us. That’s really cool.
‘But did I think about him earlier? I thought a lot about him but never as a potential transfer, to be honest.’
Klopp insists Thiago’s arrival will not ‘negatively impact’ any player in his squad despite Georginio Wijnaldum being heavily linked to Barcelona.
Earlier in the day Thiago had bid an emotional farewell to Bayern, saying he wanted a ‘new challenge’.
‘I have made the most difficult decision of my sports career,’ he said in a video posted on Twitter.
‘I will close this chapter on this wonderful club where I have grown as a player for seven years. Triumphs, joy and also hard times.
‘But what I am most proud of is that I arrived in Munich as a young man filled with dreams and now I will leave completely fulfilled with a club, a history and a culture.
‘My decision is purely of a sporting nature. As a soccer player I want new challenges to develop myself further.’
