Odds: 250/1placeholder image
Odds: 250/1 | AFP via Getty Images
Liverpool have something of a striker crisis, could a player that looks like a European legend be the answer?
Hugo Ekitike is carrying Liverpool on his back in a way that Darwin Nunez was never really capable of as the summer signing continues to repay the faith shown in him by Arne Slot.
Scoring against Tottenham could have been the spark that ignited Alexander Isak’s Reds career only for it to be his last touch before having to be helped off the park. How long the £125m summer signing will be injured for won’t be known until the medical team gets the scan results. Even without a long-term injury, the Anfield outfit will be looking for reinforcements in January.
Liverpool ‘very interested’ in African sensation
The scouts have already watched Franculinho Dju at Midtjyllland and are obviously impressed after seeing him score two goals against Nordsjaelland. Capped by Guinea-Bissau, the 21-year old spent most of his career at Benfica in their much-vaunted academy before moving to Denmark. With over 50 goals in just over 100 games, the 6ft tall striker knows where the goal is.
According to German journalist Christian Falk, as covered by Liverpool World, despite interest from several Premier League clubs, Liverpool have taken things up a notch for the £26m-rated star: “The interesting thing for England is that FC Bayern aren’t the only club at the table! Premier League champions Liverpool are also very interested in him,” Falk told CF Bayern Insider. “So perhaps we might get an exciting poker game between Arne Slot’s side and Bayern Munich.
“Also, Borussia Dortmund is said to be interested in this player. So this will be an intriguing transfer topic for us next year.” Franculinho is currently sidelined himself but will be pushing to be fit in February, if Ekitike can make it through the festive period, he might be an option.
Radar image of FC Midtjylland's Franculinho (blue) and Barcelona's Robert Lewandowski (red) using 2025/26 statistics.placeholder image
Radar image of FC Midtjylland's Franculinho (blue) and Barcelona's Robert Lewandowski (red) using 2025/26 statistics. | Data MB.
Franculinho isn’t just a good finisher, he has a physical presence and can link play with his teammates. For such a young and relatively inexperienced striker, he has the maturity of a player who has been around the block. Using Data MB’s comparison model, the Midtjylland forward compares almost perfectly in profile to legendary striker Robert Lewandowski, the veteran Barcelona man who is still one of the continent’s most dangerous goal scorers. as far as profiles go, it isn’t a bad one to have for a modern no.9.
What has Slot said about Liverpool injuries
Liverpool are running out of numbers, especially in attack with Slot responding to concern over Jeremy Frimpong’s early withdrawal against Spurs, via the club’s official website: “No, Jeremie has no problem at all. I didn't want to go down to 10 men for 30 seconds. I think this is the only country where if players are injured they need to go off for 30 seconds, with a head injury [it is] even 45, so I adapted to that. I knew there wasn't long to play and I thought we struggled a lot with our plus one, so playing 10-v-10 for half a minute with him being on the floor, yes or no, then we just go with Federico [Chiesa]. No problem with him, but with Alex and with Conor we have to wait.
“You could see our bench today as well, but this is not for the first time in the last few weeks and we are picking up points and that's the main thing. We are not the only team that suffers injuries in this period in England because we play so many games. This is quite normal, that teams have injuries in this period of time.” With Slot down to one striker, the Reds boss could do with identifying another striker who can offer support.
Continue Reading