Top 5 Affordable (ish) World Cup Strikers for us to consider

Diego Forlan – Everyone knows the talent of the 31 year old Atletico Madrid striker. 2 goals in the World Cup already against South Africa, and a class performance to boot during the match, demonstrate his abilities. No doubt he will be in much demand after the World Cup and he will most probably be priced out of the range of Liverpool, but there is always a small possibility that he himself might be up for the challenge of returning to the league he failed in with one of our biggest rivals.

Giampaolo Pazzini – Has had a tremendous season with Sampdoria after scoring 19 league goals. A goal poacher, Pazzini would be a great addition to the Reds. Bizarrely, despite being one of Serie A’s top goalscorer’s last season along with Antonio Di Natale, Italy coach Marcello Lippi has opted to keep him on the bench despite the Italian’s clear lack of firepower in front of goal. Certainly only a real possibility if Liverpool have money to spend from other player sales.

Lucas Barrios – After having a stunning record in South American football, Barrios was transferred to Borussia Dortmund last season based purely on Youtube footage of his goals. It was a big gamble and it was heavily criticised in the German media, but it has paid off as the Paraguayan has scored 19 goals in the Bundesliga this season. Keeping out Oscar Cardozo in the Paraguayan team despite him scoring 26 league goals for Benfica last campaign, Barrios offers pace rather than the physical presence of Cardozo and can cause trouble to opposition defences.

Antonio Di Natale – The top goalscorer in Serie A last season, Di Natale scored over half of Udinese’s goals. He is now 32 though, and would be seen as only a short term solution to our striker problems, but with his Udinese side struggling, they could be tempted to part with the player for a reasonable fee. Like Pazzini, inexplicably omitted from the Italian’s starting line up for the first two group matches, he will surely start the match against Slovakia in place of the misfiring Alberto Gilardino.

Park Chu Young – I have been very impressed with the Monaco striker during the tournament. Although he did score an own goal in the opening match against Argentina, Park’s hold up play has been very good and he is a very record at international level for South Korea. Yesterday he also scored the first free kick of the tournament curling round the wall past the Nigerian goalkeeper helping to attain a crucial 2-2 draw which helped Korea progress to the last 16.

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