Liverpool's striker conundrum

With little over a week until the start of the new season, we are left in a position that could seemingly turn into quite an anxious one.

The departure of Luis Suarez was done quite early, especially given the magnitude of the transfer. We all thought that his replacement would have arrived sooner rather than later, but that seems not to have been the case.

We are now heading down that avenue whereby Rodgers may be inclined to throw lumps of cash at any striker, purely out of desperation.

If landing Moreno seems a difficult task, then what would it take to land a striker of top quality?

Firstly we were linked with Bony and Rodriguez, both of which have gone off the radar. Remy was then seemingly imminent, to only then get rejected subject to his failed medical. Now if the rumours are to be genuine, we enquired about the services of Falcao despite him favouring a move to Real Madrid. Now in such a short amount of time, it seems that Edisson Cavani is our primary target.

People were rightfully expressing their concerns at the LS departure for these reasons alone. Us supporters know how difficult it is sign a player of a high profile in this day and age and with only a matter of days until the new season begins, it's highly doubtful as to whether we will replace LS before then.

So what now? Do we accept that our pulling power has been undermined by years of no Champions League football and instead resort to someone like Wilfred Bony? Or do we keep trying for that top quality striker, with the risk of leaving empty handed with only Lambert and Borini to fall back on in the event Daniel Sturridge gets injured?

Should be an exciting week ahead!

We shouldn't have sold Suarez until we got a replacement first , sadly I think we will start the league with only Sturridge upfront , I'm expecting a win against Southampton and loss against City and then I think we will land a striker in transfers deadlines .

Posted this in the General transfer topic but looks like no one saw it and since I used the same word- Conundrum in that topic, thought I'd put the same post in here.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=kE_bqA6oUQE


Now I don't know this player, not that I know many from other leagues but saw this on the news the other day and after reading the last 10 pages of this thread and the conundrum we find ourselves in needing 1 possibly 2 strikers, thought I'd throw this guys name into the hat, only on seeing this goal mind you. So look forward to reading what some of you learned posters think, if he's any good at all and would be worth a punt???

Think it's a quality goal, he shows blinding pace and trickery inside the box with a cool as finish ( almost Suarezesque)
 
Anyone out there heard of him?

I think we should be looking at loaning a player in if we can't find the right striker at the moment. Baliotelli for example might not be the right signing for us, but a loan deal just might be.

Looking back I think we missed an opportunity in not trying to loan David Villa in and letting him go to Melbourne City instead.

Posted this in the General transfer topic but looks like no one saw it and since I used the same word- Conundrum in that topic, thought I'd put the same post in here.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=kE_bqA6oUQE


Now I don't know this player, not that I know many from other leagues but saw this on the news the other day and after reading the last 10 pages of this thread and the conundrum we find ourselves in needing 1 possibly 2 strikers, thought I'd throw this guys name into the hat, only on seeing this goal mind you. So look forward to reading what some of you learned posters think, if he's any good at all and would be worth a punt???

Think it's a quality goal, he shows blinding pace and trickery inside the box with a cool as finish ( almost Suarezesque)
 
Anyone out there heard of him?

Described on wiki as a left winger, 26 years of age, with career stats of 26 goals in 226 games, so to answer your question mate, I don't see him coming here.
In fact, I'd put money on it.

Thanks Swab.

Thought he was a striker and he looked pretty good inside the penalty box (in that vid) with a few tricks up his sleeve.

Next.................... ..

I think if there was a striker who fitted the bill we would all be screaming at the club to sign him at any price but I can't think of one off hand.

We don't need an out an out striker, we have them in Sturridge and Lambert. I think we should look for that second striker (Bergkamp, Del Piero, Zola types) that compliments either Sturridge or Lambert.

Firmino would fall into that category for me. He would be perfect in every way. I just wonder why there's no interest from us, I'm sure a 20-30m offer would be accepted.

We don't need an out an out striker, we have them in Sturridge and Lambert. I think we should look for that second striker (Bergkamp, Del Piero, Zola types) that compliments either Sturridge or Lambert.

Firmino would fall into that category for me. He would be perfect in every way. I just wonder why there's no interest from us, I'm sure a 20-30m offer would be accepted.

I think Lambert is a bench warmer come game changer he will not start many games unless of course we don't sign a striker. We simply have to find more goals a lot more goals than this side has without Luis.

With little over a week until the start of the new season, we are left in a position that could seemingly turn into quite an anxious one.

The departure of Luis Suarez was done quite early, especially given the magnitude of the transfer. We all thought that his replacement would have arrived sooner rather than later, but that seems not to have been the case.

Agree.

Liverpool FC have had a years notice that he would be leaving.  It was practically etched into the new contract.

LFC: Listen Luis lad, thanks for staying this season, here's a couple of extra quid for the rest of the year and let's put a big clause in for a foreign club.

So bearing in mind this contract was signed in, what? November? You would have thought LFC might have got a couple of top targets lined up - maybe even had some informal 'chats'.

No.  Yet again Liverpool are left rummaging around desperate to land any name now to placate the fans.  Clueless and inept doesn't come close to describing Liverpool FC's approach YET AGAIN to the most important part of our team.

I think we should be looking at loaning a player in if we can't find the right striker at the moment.

£75M tells me we should be able to 'find' the right striker.  Unless he hasn't been born.

I can see this coming a mile off.

Deadline day, 22m for Bony.

If I knew someone was going to knock out my front teeth a few months down the line, I'd:
a) make sure my first priority was to get them replaced asap, have dentist lined up, know what its gonna cost etc
b) w.r.t. fillings and general maintenance of the back teeth, sure they need to be worked on, but not as urgently

It is hard to understand why we are in the striker position we are in, but there is time left to sort it out. No panic
Though why it hasn't been sorted out by now is hard to understand given we had 75mill quid from Luis sale.  The Remy thing was a shambles.

We've slotting in some new pieces of the jigsaw this summer, sure, and that is good - but this piece is the most important.

£75M tells me we should be able to 'find' the right striker.  Unless he hasn't been born.

Yeah maybe "attract" the right striker" might have been better? I think we are still struggling to attract or appeal to the top quality players. Maybe it is partly due to our wages policy, or that players see us more as "one season wonders", or simply the fact that we run away every time another club shows signs of competing with us for a player?

I just think if the right player isn't available for whatever reason right now, it might be better to loan a player in than get stuck with the wrong player bought in desperation.

Should be an interesting(or very frustrating) couple of weeks anyway.

Yes this is turning into a bit of a fiasco right enough. Once again it gives lie to the "Brendan is in control of all transfers" nonsense. That is of course unless he said all along after it became clear that we were selling Luis "don't buy me anyone else, we don't need a replacement" or even "please leave it until the last minute possible it'll make my life much easier". 

Yes this is turning into a bit of a fiasco right enough. Once again it gives lie to the "Brendan is in control of all transfers" nonsense. That is of course unless he said all along after it became clear that we were selling Luis "don't buy me anyone else, we don't need a replacement" or even "please leave it until the last minute possible it'll make my life much easier". 

Or "Don't tell me who we are buying....surprise me on the last day"  

Got to say, we've got firepower from the wings and Sturridge/ Lambert
The season starts very soon but the window closes on the 31st, for all we know arrangements are being made.
Even if, god forbid, worse case scenario; we didn't land a striker. I would still be highly optimistic about us getting results this season, with a strong mix of players
 Brendan can play chess tactically to his heart content.
When relying on Suarez to work wonders maybe he had  a lot of pawns but not many: rooks,knights or bishops to use- relying heavily on his queen.
...
maybe a bad analogy.

tl;dr
I'd be fine with Bony if it's doable, don't need a showbiz name to make me feel more great about the clubs chances.

Yes this is turning into a bit of a fiasco right enough. Once again it gives lie to the "Brendan is in control of all transfers" nonsense. That is of course unless he said all along after it became clear that we were selling Luis "don't buy me anyone else, we don't need a replacement" or even "please leave it until the last minute possible it'll make my life much easier".

So now our manager is a liar is he?

“Obviously, I am involved heavily in the identification of the player,” Rodgers told the ECHO.

“The principle idea when I first came in was that like any manager you will have the first call on a player and the last call.

“That’s the call on whether he’s good enough to continue to look at and try to organise a deal and the last call to say yes or no."

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/brendan-rodgers-liverpool-fc-transfer-7185770

Direct quote from the man himself.
If people think he's telling porkies they should just man up and say so.

Got to say, we've got firepower from the wings and Sturridge/ Lambert
The season starts very soon but the window closes on the 31st, for all we know arrangements are being made.
Even if, god forbid, worse case scenario; we didn't land a striker. I would still be highly optimistic about us getting results this season, with a strong mix of players
 Brendan can play chess tactically to his heart content.
When relying on Suarez to work wonders maybe he had  a lot of pawns but not many: rooks,knights or bishops to use- relying heavily on his queen.
...
maybe a bad analogy.

tl;dr
I'd be fine with Bony if it's doable, don't need a showbiz name to make me feel more great about the clubs chances.

Totally agree mate. I really feel quite strongly that the Swansea player ought to be the one we are busting a gut to get.

I think we should be looking at loaning a player in if we can't find the right striker at the moment. Baliotelli for example might not be the right signing for us, but a loan deal just might be.

I understand your point Saint but I think it would be a disgrace if were left to resort to a loan deal to such a vital area of the side.

Yes this is turning into a bit of a fiasco right enough. Once again it gives lie to the "Brendan is in control of all transfers" nonsense. That is of course unless he said all along after it became clear that we were selling Luis "don't buy me anyone else, we don't need a replacement" or even "please leave it until the last minute possible it'll make my life much easier". 

This has absolutely zero to do with who is in charge of transfers and has everything to do with who is available, we can afford and who WANTS to come and play for us. Just stop with all of the "who is in charge of transfers" garbage.

I understand your point Saint but I think it would be a disgrace if were left to resort to a loan deal to such a vital area of the side.

I would say not ideal rather than a disgrace mate. It would open up a few options though. Tevez may be too old to buy but not to old to loan. Balotelli may be too much of a nutter to buy but not to loan.

I suppose the real benefit of a loan is that when we do eventually find the "right" player  we don't lose them while trying to sell the player bought in desperation. Or find that they decide to sit on their fat contract with us rather than be sold, leaving us short of money for the right player.

In all honesty I don't normally agree with big clubs loaning in players, but in our present situation we seem to have few options, as those we consider good enough won't come, or at least not for what we are offering, while the ones that will come are not players that we would really want in the longer term.   

This has absolutely zero to do with who is in charge of transfers and has everything to do with who is available, we can afford and who WANTS to come and play for us. Just stop with all of the "who is in charge of transfers" garbage.

Hmmm, another poster who could do with a chill pill. It's everything to do with who is "available", who we "can afford", and who "wants to play for us"? It's hard to argue with any of that really, it's kind of stating the obvious. I think this is probably why we're not going to sign Lionel Messi, am I right?

If though we allow ourselves to think outside the box for a bit, perhaps try and work within the confines of "who we CAN afford", who DOES want to play for us" and who we COULD possibly render available by making a decent offer (as normally if you pay enough money ALL players become available) and see if we can come up with any names.

Conservatively, I'd say we can probably AFFORD anything up to around 25 million quid, we can probably this would render a few footballers "available", then once we speak to the player if we offer them a rise, surely SOME of them would want to play for us.

Just to recap, I'm advocating signing one or both of two players who we could definitely afford, who we could definitely render available by our offer, and who would definitely want to play for us.

Looking back I think we missed an opportunity in not trying to loan David Villa in and letting him go to Melbourne City instead.

Think this would have been a none starter, if he did come to England before he started with New York would have been to 1 club City ala Lampard.