Michael Owen reckons that Liverpool will have issues if they sign a striker in the summer transfer window.
Liverpool currently have a front three of Mo Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane, and Owen reckons that the form of this trio is why Jurgen Klopp will struggle to sign a top-quality attacker come the end of the season.
He feels that it will be hard to persuade any potential targets that they will make the starting XI over the three players, and that if they do manage to sign a striker, it is unlikely to be one that will make much of a positive impact on next term.
“It is so much easier if you’re a scout or you’re in the recruitment department of any other club bar the top six. I mean, where do you go? How do you go and target someone, and they say ‘am I going to start?’ and you have to say ‘no, Salah will start or Mane will start’?” he told Goal.
“You can’t go and get an absolute top player, unless they only have a couple of years left in their career. Or you go and buy the next young thing and maybe bleed him in for a year or so. To go and get someone in the guts of their career, at 24 or 25, that’s so hard, and that’s the only player that can really improve teams like this one.
“I know it’s a dream for everyone [to sign world-class players] but it’s so hard to improve your team if you are in the top six, unless you’re not happy with one of your players and you look to replace them. But Liverpool have a great front three, and so if they’re going to buy, it would more likely be one of the options I mentioned.”
OPINION
It looks like Owen has got it absolutely spot on here. With the likes of Divock Origi likely to be sold and Daniel Sturridge out of contract, Klopp may find himself in the position where he may have to add another attacker to the ranks. However, as Owen has pointed out, how will they attract the finest crop of players? No player is going to want to join the Reds if they know they are unlikely to get many minutes ahead of the fearsome trio, so the only option is to sign someone who has a little bit less quality. But what would be the point in that? Klopp would need to sign someone who adds to the squad, not someone who just makes up the numbers. How Liverpool can overcome this problem remains to be seen, although you could argue that it is a problem for many teams in the Premier League top six – what striker would want to join Tottenham with Harry Kane leading the line?
