Arne Slot looks on during a Liverpool matchplaceholder image
Arne Slot looks on during a Liverpool match | Getty Images
Liverpool spent big on strikers last summer, could they be about to get the cheque book out again for another no.9?
Arne Slot will be hoping that this isn’t an issue next season with the record signing’s summer of inactivity likely the biggest cause of the Swede’s injury nightmare since signing from Newcastle United. Adding quality no.9’s seemed to be an attempt to replace Mohamed Salah’s output centrally instead of with a like for like signing, so far though, it hasn’t paid off.
Liverpool eye summer Luis Suarez move
According to SportsBoom, Liverpool are looking to add even more firepower to their attack next season in the shape of Sporting Lisbon’s 29-goal Luis Suarez. A confusing prospect for some, however, the 28-year old Colombia international teammate of Luis Diaz has been in fine form after replacing Viktor Gyokeres for around £20m. With Ekitike and Isak already at the club and yet to hit their peak, it is unclear if Suarez would entertain a move to Anfield or if he would look for guarantees around how many minutes he would get, if he were to leave Portugal.
What is certain, is that there are few strikers across Europe who have caused as many problems as the former Almeria and Marseille man who spent three years contracted to Watford without making much of an impact before moving onto pastures new and establishing himself later in his career than most.
What type of player is Luis Suarez?
According to Data MB’s player comparison model, Suarez scores highly across almost every striker metric. Only an average aerial threat stops him from being truly elite and challenging the likes of Erling Haaland and Harry Kane, however, his profile stands up almost perfectly when compared to another of Europe’s finest goalscorers.
Suarez out-performs Kylian Mbappe across every statistic except from aerial duels and offensive duels and comes out on top in key areas such as chance conversion percentage and non-penalty goals. With hindsight, rather than spending over £125m on Isak, Liverpool might have been better served saving £100m and sign Suarez as Ekitike’s back-up with Slot soon to have the same problem that he had at the start of the season – who to play as his no.9?
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