To justify Liverpool's transfer appeal, four players must help the Red Devils solve the problem with Mohamed Salah and close the gap with Manchester City and Arsenal.
Liverpool apparently refused to replace Roberto Firmino this summer as the Brazilian left at the end of his contract.
Having signed Cody Gakpo from PSV in January in what some see as a prediction of Firmino's departure, the Red Devils still have a list of five strikers that would make most clubs in football the world is envious.
Last year, however, Liverpool didn't really feel the full benefits of that power. His total of 75 Premier League goals is the second-lowest in Jürgen Klopp's seven full seasons. Only in the 2020/21 season did he score fewer goals (68).
Mohamed Salah has received plenty of praise for his stellar numbers (30 goals total and 16 assists) despite the fact that the whole team struggled, but it is somewhat hides one of Liverpool's problems - they are too dependent on the 'Egypt' team.
Salah has scored or assisted 44.7% of the Reds' goals in the 2022/23 season, the highest percentage in his six-year Liverpool career. He scored twice as many as second best player Darwin Núñez (15).
The table below shows that the 30-year-old is the only striker in the club's ranks to also make the top 20. Player rank
1 Mohamad Salah 46
2 Darwin Nuñez 19
3 Diogo Jota 15
4 Cody Gakpo 9
5 Luis Diaz 7
*Firmino is excluded
Just looking at the Premier League (to normalize the number of matches) you can see a huge shortfall for the top two teams Manchester City and Arsenal. Man City's top five strikers (Erling Haaland, Phil Foden, Julian Álvarez, Riyad Mahrez and Jack Grealish) have scored 97 direct goals, while Arsenal's (Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus, Eddie Nketiah and Leandro Trossard) scored 80, 10 more than their Liverpool counterparts.
We've come far enough in the game without mentioning injuries, and it's true that the long absences of Diogo Jota and Luis Díaz, as well as Gakpo's late arrival, played a big part in the disappointing result. hope.
But that's part of the bet that Liverpool have decided not to replace Firmino for next season - they rely on these players to stay in shape, and there is no perfect world where they avoid problems altogether. physical.
Liverpool were too dependent on Mohamed Salah last season
Liverpool were too dependent on Mohamed Salah last season
Salah, at this point, offers assurances of his ability to escape the elite as close as possible, so we'll take a look at four other members of the quintet here. Darwin Núñez - Liverpool's record signing knows that the main task is to start seizing their opportunities. Last season, he missed 20 big opportunities, and while some pointed out he was on par with Salah and behind Haaland (28) and Marcus Rashford (22), he played less than 50. % of minutes available and underperforming his xG by 3.1 , making him one of the 15 worst finishers in the competition.
As Jamie Carragher pointed out in commenting on the 2-2 draw with Arsenal, fans were patient with his swagger last season, but that won't last if it continues next year. after.
Diogo Jota - The notorious Jota went more than a year without scoring from April 2022 to April 2023, and despite a 147-day injury absence during that time, a barren streak lasted 1,675 minutes. , which equates to 18.5 full matches.
It was hoped that it was a matter of confidence and his confidence was restored by scoring seven goals in nine appearances at the end of the season. It has set itself the goal of at least matching it.
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