Although it is still too early to say for definite what formation new Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson will prefer, it is fair to stay that throughout the majority of his career he has opted for the traditional 4-4-2. With the lack of strikers currently at Anfield, even with the addition of versatile Milan Jovanovic today, it is most likely that Roy would look to strengthen in the forward positions. If Fernando Torres does stay put then, he will certainly be looking for a striker who could play off him, and do something a little bit different. Jovanovic is certainly an option, with his speed and his penchant for coming deep for the ball, but he is a player who can also play left midfield. Hodgson may look elsewhere for another addition to the squad. With finances tight, many of the five below would need funds from further player sales, but I think they could all be worth considering, or in some cases, are actually being considered by the Reds management.
Bryan Ruiz – Monitored by Hodgson during his time at Fulham, the young Costa Rican has had a breakthrough season playing as a striker at FC Twente. He has previously played as a second striker back in Costa Rica and as a winger for Belgium side Gent, but Steve McClaren opted to play the player up front last season, and got a fantastic return from him. 24 goals in the Eredivisie is not of course that big of a deal, remember Mateja Kezman, but Ruiz is not an out and out striker. He has creativity and comes deep for the ball, and is certainly a different player than Torres.
Stefan Kiessling – Linked with the Reds today, the Bayer Leverkusen striker is an unorthodox centre-forward in the sense that he is both tall and quick. The lanky 6ft 3 striker scored 21 goals in the Bundesliga last season but there is a lot more to the player than just his height. He loves coming deep for the ball and moving out wide to use his pace, and at 26 years of age, he may just be getting into the prime of his career. He has never quite cut it at international level though and has not scored in 5 appearances for his country.
David Trezeguet – Could be the bargain signing out of the five here, the French striker’s record at Juventus is hard to argue with 168 goals in 309 appearances, and he will be available very cheaply as Juve look to offload many players as they revamp their squad. Considering cash-strapped Valencia are front runners for his signature, he could well be worth taking a chance on despite now being 32 years of age.
Roque Santa Cruz – More of a long shot, but Santa Cruz may be available relatively cheaply because he won’t be part of Roberto Mancini’s plans next season. Brought in by Mark Hughes for £17.5million, he will be sold at a big loss. Certainly more a target man style centre forward, he could be an excellent foil for Torres as well contributing a fair amount of goals.
Miroslav Klose – Certainly it would be a big ask for Liverpool to sign the German striker, but despite having an excellent World Cup, there is every chance he will be leaving Bayern Munich this summer. He had a poor season in front of goal last campaign in the Bundesliga scoring only 3 in the league, and Bayern’s Dutch coach Louis van Gaal favours Thomas Muller, Ivica Olic and Mario Gomez to Klose. This may all change after his four goals in South Africa, but now aged 32, he could be available for a lot less, and his heading ability and hold play could be ideal for a player like Torres.
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out of them all i would probably plump for either santa cruz, for his premiere league experience, or klose who, even at 32, is still a class act despite last season’s form, perhaps a fresh challenge and change of scenery is all he needs
Why not play Yossi off Torres? Oh,…
anteater – that will be a common formation next season at chelsea
Trez or Klose
what about robert vittek &iaquinta
you’ve the same belief I had anteater – that we’d have been MUCH better off with Yossi or Aquilani (with Pacheco being given more opportunity) being used to support the main striker, with Gerrard dropping back into central midfield at the expense of Lucas or Masch. If only tactical geniuses could see the obvious things…
Of the above, I’d be unhappy to see us end up with Ruiz or Trezeguet
If Torres want to leaev he can go Liverpool will still live on. Get Trez, Klose Ruiz and Henry. Just make sure we are getting 100pounds for Torres. We will then get to buy some decent players. Oh Roy get me Tardelli from Atletico Miniero in Brazil, Diego from Juve would be ideal too
I’d much rather we just develop N’gog/Nemeth/Babel as strikers than waste money on Ruiz or Trezeguet
jay, i don’t think our academy could develope a photo! who has successfully came through since stevie G and judas owen?
get balotelli and 10m in a swap for Masch
not a bad idea decky, or what about balotelli and cambiasso and we’ll give them £10m
steve, if Gerrard was coming through now, he’d have been dumped back into the waste-lands after his first lunging tackle!
You have to take a risk and show some faith in the youngsters in order for them to prosper – we have failed to do so in recent years, so it is no surprise that the kids have failed to break through…
jay, we took a risk on ngog and the kid looked like he didn’t know if the ball was blew up or stuffed!
these young players need to be farmed out on loan instead of playing meaningless reserve games in front of family and friends, they would probably do a lot better off the back of a season in the championship!
steve, N’gog hadn’t proved himself as a stand-out in the reserves but Rafa decided to fast-track him ahead of Nemeth anyway.
Regardless, he did as good a job as could be expected of a skinny young kid playing the lone forward role for a long ball team, and contributed far more than experienced counterparts like Owen, Eduardo or Santa Cruz did last season!
don’t get me wrong Steve, I think it would be best for both parties if N’gog went on loan to another Premiership or maybe even to the Championship, but I’d rather see him continue to play for us than see us waste money on some past it player like Trezeguet or another unproven nobody from abroad
Kevin, if Torres is available at 100 Pounds only I’d like to get him in my Sunday league team. There must be those 100 Pounds somewhere round here, hold on…
Jay, maybe they should have offered us the job then. At least we knew what position certain players prefer. Benítez actually surprised me with playing Pepe as an outfield player only once. Absolutely not his way.
there is a team across the water dying to give young lfc players experience of the physical side of football lend them out toughen them up then see how they go
Trez has ALWAYS scored goals. I think he would be a great signing if we got him for 6-8mil.
Carlton Cole£12m{ST},Gary Cahill£12m{CB},James Milner£24m{RW},Alex Smithies£1m{GK},Dan Gosling-free{CAM},Ashley Young£18m{LW},Maynor Figueroa£6m{LB},Milan Jovanovic-free{CF},Jonjo Shelvey£1.7m{CM} sell Benayoun,Riera,Babel,Degen,Krygiakos,Nemeth,San Jose,Cavalieri,Itandje,El Zhar to raise funds new owners will provide the rest