There have been a lot of bumps in the road for Liverpool this season, but there has been some festive cheer as of late at Anfield.
Indeed, Arne Slot's men haven't tasted defeat since a sobering 4-1 Champions League humiliation at the hands of PSV Eindhoven, with the Reds showing plenty of fight and quality to turn around their once sticky situation.
Hugo Ekitike for Liverpool
Hugo Ekitike, in particular, has shone in recent Premier League wins over Brighton and Hove Albion and Tottenham Hotspur, with three goals collected, seeing Match of the Day pundit Shay Given hail him as the "real deal" in attack.
Liverpool won't be content, though, with the personnel making up their forward positions, as Alexander Isak now looks set for a lengthy absence on the sidelines, resulting in a new striker target appearing on the Reds' shopping list...
Liverpool eye up move for £70m striker
It has now been revealed that Isak will be out for several months with a serious injury he sustained against Spurs, as his nightmare start on Merseyside only gets worse.
Losing the £125m attacker for a significant period of time means Liverpool will surely have to go out in January to recruit a fresh body up top, with the top-flight's second top scorer in Brentford's Igor Thiago reportedly catching their eye.
Premier League top scorers
A report from Caught Offside has revealed that Slot's reigning champions are monitoring Thiago as they go about chasing after attacking reinforcements, with Antoine Semenyo also still on their radar despite the likelihood being he signs for Manchester City.
Brentford are noted as being hesitant to part ways with one of their main stars mid-way through a season, though, with an audacious £70m price tag now above the former Club Brugge man's head.
Igor Thiago vs Liverpool forwards 2025-26
Still, this could be the price Liverpool have to fork out if they want to sign one of the division's most in-form forwards, with the Reds not regretting their pursuit of Sadio Mane one bit back in 2016, having poached the now Al-Nassr forward from lower down the division in Southampton, only to mould him into a modern-day legend.
How Thiago can be Slot's own Mane
Mane cost a high £36m to obtain in the summer of 2016, having stood out as a lively attacker for the Saints, much like Thiago is now showing off at the G-Tech Community Stadium.
With hindsight on side, Mane was only just getting started in the Premier League at St. Mary's, with 25 goals and ten assists from 75 appearances on the South Coast, enough to catch Liverpool's eye.
He would then go on to blow these numbers out of the water at Anfield, with the Senegal attacker reaching a stunning 120 goals and 46 assists for Liverpool, before his sensational journey ran out on Merseyside in 2022.
Still, his former Reds manager Jurgen Klopp would be right in his assessment that the winger is one of "Liverpool's greatest ever players", having fired home some crucial goals to lift the FA Cup, Champions League, and Premier League during his glittering stay.
Naby-Keita-Liverpool-Sadio-Mane
During the title-winning season of 2019/20 alone, Mane would chip in with a weighty 18 league strikes, as he was further noted as being a "world-class" finisher by the German, and deserving of being in the "same bracket" as the division's best-ever strikers when reaching a century of Anfield goals, by ex-Liverpool teammate Georginio Wijnaldum.
Of course, Thiago, right now, is some way off being this revered in the Premier League but like Mane did lower down the top-flight, he's made one hell of an impact.
Thiago's PL numbers for Brentford (25/26)
Stat
Games played
Goals scored
Assists
Scoring frequency
Goal conversion %
Big chances missed
Stats by Sofascore
But with a devastating 11 league goals picked up this season already for Keith Andrew's Bees, the "phenomenal" marksman - as he has been rightly praised by his manager - is showing why he is deserving of such a bumper £70m move, to try and replicate Mane's jaw-dropping feats.
He even scooped up November's Player of the Month accolade for the entire league, with his consistent "magnificent" performances for the West London outfit - as Andrews has also waxed lyrical - surely making him hungry for a step-up, with Mane not looking back whatsoever when deserting Southampton all those years ago.
Stepping up to the mark for Brentford this season, after both Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa left the building in quick succession, also shows off a striker who can thrive under pressure, as Thiago perhaps gets a Mane-style big break in January if Liverpool come in for his services.
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Liverpool have earmarked alternatives as the race for Antoine Semenyo ramps up.