Warning for Liverpool's rivals as Thiago Alcantara immediately makes himself at home in the Premier League
It felt significant that Thiago Alcantara had even managed to make the bench for Liverpool’s visit to Chelsea on Sunday afternoon.
Having completed an individual session at Melwood on Friday - the day his arrival from Bayern Munich was confirmed - the 29-year-old only trained with his new teammates for the very first time on Saturday.
And yet, just 24 hours later, he was named in the squad for a fixture that is typically among the Reds’ toughest in any season.
Jurgen Klopp had previously shown more caution with new signings, preferring to give them time to settle in before calling on them - as Andy Robertson and Fabinho can no doubt attest.
But the German’s strong faith in his latest addition was spelled out unequivocally at half-time at Stamford Bridge, as he was introduced in place of Jordan Henderson.
With his captain unable to continue as a result of tightness in his thigh and the game still goalless, it would have been easy for Klopp to go with tried and tested and throw James Milner on.
Instead, he offered Thiago his first taste of Premier League football and a chance to announce his intentions in England.
Explaining the thinking behind that call, the manager later said: “We came in and Hendo said that he probably got a knock but wants to carry on. I said, 'No, we don't take any risks.'
“Then we had to make the decision and decided for Thiago because, even without training against 10 men, he's then pretty much the perfect player on that position, I would say.”
Talk about being proven right.
In just over 45 minutes on the pitch, Thiago managed 75 successful passes - more than any Chelsea player across the entirety of the match and a Premier League record for a single half of football.
His desire to do the dirty work was also neatly underlined by a fist pump and high five with Milner following a tackle on N’Golo Kante that resulted in a Liverpool throw-in.
The only blot on the Spain international’s copybook was the penalty he gave away for bringing down Timo Werner, a foul that was simultaneously clumsy and a touch unfortunate.
But even that error went unpunished, Alisson Becker pulling off the save to ensure that assessments of his new teammate’s debut remained overwhelmingly positive.
Worryingly for Liverpool’s rivals, Thiago’s performance only scratched the surface of the capabilities he showed during his trophy-laden stint at Bayern.
And Klopp expects much more from the midfielder as he adapts to a new style of football and new colleagues.
As he explained at full-time: "Everything he did today was completely natural. It was not all perfect but it was natural, so the passes he tries to play are natural. That's good, really good, nice.
"He's not used to our things, that's clear. He needs to get used to his team-mates, but when they went one man down it became the perfect game for him.
"I liked his game a lot. Defensively it was tricky for him, because we set it up differently. But offensively, with the ball, that's him, he wants to pass the ball."
Were it not for Henderson’s injury on Sunday, you would have expected that learning journey to begin against Lincoln City in the League Cup in midweek.
But, after witnessing such an exciting debut in the capital on Sunday, you wonder whether Klopp might now consider saving Thiago for Arsenal’s upcoming visit to Anfield.
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