Stewart Downing says Liverpool need more in attack
Contrary to popular belief, former Red Stewart Downing says Liverpool are short of attacking prowess as he believes that the club could secure the service of one more attacker before the conclusion of the transfer window.
Speaking to Betway via ECHO, Downing said he’d like to see Liverpool target another forward this summer following the departure of Roberto Firmino.
“I’d still like to see one more attacking player join in the summer, more in the mould of Roberto Firmino.
Hopefully, Diogo Jota can fill those shoes if he stays fit. I’d love to see and out-and-out, top number nine. I don’t think the players they’ve got are on the level of Luis Suarez or Fernando Torres yet.”
Firmino, a top class creator and a proper team-player, would have been extremely tough to replace after his departure to Saudi. However, Liverpool have an extremely similar player to Bobby in Cody Gakpo. As we saw towards the last few games of last season, Gakpo made the false-9 role his own, and adapted to the team’s requirements perfectly.
While it is true that our strikers in Diogo Jota, Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo are not on the level of Luis Suarez or Fernando Torres, these three players offer exclusivity. Each one is different to the other, and that gives the manager loads of options. As far as goalscoring is concerned, Diogo Jota is probably a notch more clinical than Mohamed Salah, the most prolific goal-scorer at Liverpool in recent years.
Do we need attackers?
Tough to see where Downing is coming from, as the attack is probably the only department in the squad which seems in place at the moment. With the likes of Ben Doak also coming up from the academy, there is not a lot of reason to add to our attacking prowess.
Instead, having on board a couple of more midfielders will go a long way in securing silverware this season and beyond as well. Admitted, there was a sense of concern about backup options on the right-wing, but the presence of Doak means that that concern also ceases to exist.
While securing depth is something that could never go wrong, the apparent need for reinforcements in other departments of the squad means that spending any available resources on an attacker would be absolute misapplication of resources.
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Downing’s comments should be taken with a pinch of salt. While having additional attackers could be greatly beneficial at another time, if there are no midfielders to provide for them, having even Kylian Mbappe up front would be of practically no use.
