Liverpool have been urged to not rest on their laurels in the summertime transfer window and, as a substitute, attempt to sign Arsenal and Chelsea goal Alexander Isak.
Arne Slot’s side have taken a commanding stranglehold on the Premier League title race after an excellent begin to the season under their recent manager.
But two draws of their last three games has just left the door barely ajar for Arsenal who could move inside five points of the Reds with a win against West Ham on Saturday.
Liverpool got here in for criticism from some quarters for his or her profligate midweek display against Aston Villa having wasted quite a few possibilities to wrap up the sport within the second half.
And maybe there was no higher probability than the one presented to Darwin Nunez who inexplicably blazed over the bar with an open-goal at his mercy.
While Slot has opted to play with no traditional striker for big parts of the season, John Arne Riise is adamant that Nunez’s midweek showing was a transparent indication of where his former club must strengthen in the summertime.
‘Sometimes you have got players within the team that you just love watching and you like having a team and Nunez is one among them. He fights, he works hard, he’s that form of character,’ Riise told Metro courtesy of BetMGM.
‘So often he gets these possibilities and you think that ‘Yeah, now he’s going to loosen up now, he’s going rating’, nevertheless it hasn’t come for him.
‘And so, regardless of how much I really like his personality and the way he plays, Liverpool are a top, top club that need a striker who scores goals regularly.
‘We’ve got (Mohamed) Salah but he’s not a striker, he’s a winger. We’d like a striker who’s more clinical and can care for his possibilities when he gets them. You’ll miss some but Nunez has missed quite just a few massive possibilities that he must have scored.
‘So it’s a tough one being a Liverpool fan and loving Nunez as a player but when you have a look at the team and what the team must stay awake there at the highest, I believe we’d like to have a look at a striker who’s more clinical in front of the goal.’
The longer term of several key Liverpool players stays up within the air but Riise believes the club should make signing a striker their number-one priority in the summertime and namechecked Newcastle’s Isak as his dream signing.
The Swede has notched up 17 goals and five assists in 23 league games this season for Eddie Howe’s side and is prone to be one of the crucial in-demand forwards in Europe this summer.
Arsenal and Chelsea have long-been rumoured with the 25-year-old, but any Premier League club wanting to secure a deal could have to interrupt the British transfer record with Newcastle reportedly slapping a £160million price tag on their prized asset.
Riise, nonetheless, is confident that Liverpool could tempt Isak with a move to Anfield, saying: ‘I’ve seen the rumours saying that you just he would love a move to Liverpool as well.
‘Every striker would like to go to Liverpool for the time being when how they play, but I believe it might be an amazing addition to the team.
‘He plays football with a smile on his face, he likes to be creative, he’s quick, he’s superb in front of goal so I believe that might be an amazing signing. If there’s one place I believe Liverpool should strengthen or do something in the summertime it’s the striker position obviously.’
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Left-back is one other area that Riise would really like to see the club strengthen and is confident that a brand new, young full-back might help push Andy Robertson back to his best form in a Liverpool shirt.
‘I believe Andy Robertson needs tougher competition at left-back,’ he said. ‘Though (Kostas) Tsimikas is a great player, I don’t think he’s that good a player that he pushes Robertson enough.
‘Robertson has dipped in form this season in comparison with what we’ve come to expect over the past 4 or five years but he’s been at such a high level that folks expect a lot from him.
‘I had the identical thing at Liverpool. The last yr I used to be there after I was sold to Roma, I wasn’t as much as my standard and suddenly, boom, you’re gone.
‘Obviously, it’s different for Robertson but Liverpool have to bring a young, promising left-back in to make Robertson think: ‘Oh s**, I got to step it’. I don’t think he’s doing it on purpose but perhaps if he sees that in pre-season next summer, he knows he has to step up or he might lose my position.’
John Arne Riise was speaking on behalf of BetMGM. Play the £1million Golden Goals game this season by appropriately predicting Premier League scores. BeGambleAware |18+
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