Here's something no one has been able to say for a while: Manchester City are struggling for goals.
Right now, the Sky Blues are the joint-sixth highest scorers in the Premier League with 22 from 13 games, meaning they've bagged fewer goals than Brentford and the same number as Wolverhampton Wanderers, a current member of the bottom three.
As noted by Opta's The Analyst, of Man City's starting lineup deployed at Anfield on Sunday, only Erling Braut Haaland had scored a Premier League goal this season, a fact that remained true following their lacklustre display on Merseyside, and even the usually unstoppable Norwegian has only netted twice in his last eight league outings.
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Of course, the Citizens' current decline has been largely attributed to Rodri's injury, leaving them exposed at the back and vulnerable to counter-attacks, but they're also struggling to score goals too.
Thus, despite already boasting one free-scoring, often unplayable Nordic centre-forward, could the four-in-a-row Premier League champions make a move for another?
Manchester City looking at Viktor Gyokeres move
According to a report by Florian Plettenberg of Sky Deutschland on social media, Manchester City have "intensified their efforts" to sign Sporting Clube de Portugal striker Viktor Gyökeres.
The Sweden international has been heavily linked with a move to Manchester United in the last month or so, which isn't too surprising considering Rúben Amorim, his now former Sporting boss has just arrived at Old Trafford.
When pressed on the matter, Gyökeres himself said: "We're sad to see him (Amorim) go..... follow him to Manchester? I don't know, I'm here and I like it here. I don't think about it."
However, could he indeed follow Amorim to Manchester, but end up donning a sky blue shirt, rather than a red one?
Analyst Ben Mattinson described Gyökeres as a "ball-striking monster", with reference to this thunderous free-kick he scored during the Taça da Liga quarter-final against Nacional in late October.
That was one of 24 goals Gyökeres has scored already this season, including five in five Champions League appearances, most notably bagging a hat-trick during Manchester City's 4-1 thrashing at Estádio José Alvalade last month.
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He was also the top-scorer in this season's UEFA Nations League with nine, including four when Azerbaijan visited Stockholm in November, a haul that meant he pipped a certain Haaland to the golden boot.
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Where Gyökeres would fit in at Manchester City
Overall, since joining Sporting from Coventry City 18 months ago, Gyökeres has scored 67 goals in 71 appearances for the Lions, the key figure, certainly on the playing side, as they won last season's Primeira Liga title at a canter.
Given that the Swede will celebrate his 27th birthday next June, next summer feels the right time for him to make a big-money move, having made very little impact at the highest level before exploding onto the scene in Lisbon last season.
On the face of it, this proposed move makes little sense at all, considering Man City already have the great Haaland leading the line.
However, Gyökeres should be viewed as more of a replacement for Julián Álvarez, who was sold to Atlético Madrid for a whopping £81.5m last summer, without being replaced; İlkay Gündoğan's, so far, underwhelming return notwithstanding.
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It was viewed that Álvarez's departure would have little impact because he didn't play much anyway, but this was a complete myth because, contrary to popular belief, only seven outfielders accumulated more than his 3,481 minutes, while only Rodri, Phil Foden, Ederson and Kyle Walker saw more Premier League action than the Argentine forward.
So far this season, Savinho, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Bernardo Silva, Jérémy Doku and an ageing Kevin De Bruyne, persistently hampered by injury, have scored a combined seven goals across all competitions, with Grealish specifically approaching an entire year since he last scored a club goal against Crystal Palace; 353 days and counting.
So, as bonkers as it may be to say, Gyökeres could be just the man the Sky Blues need to bolster their attacking firepower, consequently replacing Alvarez in the process.
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