Liverpool legend Mark Lawrenson has hit out at a forward who “just doesn’t score” as he feels the club “need an out-and-out striker” among their new signings.
The Reds have just won their first league title under Arne Slot. Indeed, the Dutchman led his side to Premier League triumph in his first season at the helm.
He has done so with four games remaining, and with only two players – Mohamed Salah and Luis Diaz – breaking the 10-goal mark. Other forwards have underwhelmed – Darwin Nunez has five goals in 26 games, and Diogo Jota six in 23.
Reds legend Lawrenson has highlighted the drawbacks to both of those players, suggesting Liverpool need to keep moving forward.
“You mentioned Nunez. I mean, he stretches defences, but as you know, just, he just doesn’t score, which, for a striker, is not good,” he said on talkSPORT.
“Jota, really good finisher, injury prone. Definitely, they need an out-and-out striker who’s quick, but then doesn’t everybody?”
Elsewhere, Lawrenson has suggested Liverpool need a handful of players to stay competitive next season. He told Liverpool.com: “We need another centre-back and obviously we’ll need another right-back, I would have thought. We probably need another left-back. Apart from that, obviously the strikers.
“So you’re probably talking – in an ideal world – five new players. I mean, that can be offset by sales but I think that the last couple of months we’ve been looking at it saying ‘do you think his legs have gone? Do you think this guy’s good enough to come in and play semi-regularly? Are we strong enough at the back?’ All of those things.
“So it’s gone from it looking like a fantastic job to have for Arne Slot to ‘show us what you’re made of this summer’. I mean, I don’t think he’ll be going on a summer holiday, will he?
“There is no other right-back in the league who is basically a midfield player, whose passing range is just brilliant. You can bring someone else in but they won’t be like Trent [Alexander-Arnold] – on the ball he’s just sensational. Every full-back gets beat, it’s the way that it is. But he will be a big, big miss.”
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