Liverpool tried out a new formation against Swansea and lost which is quite unfortunate because Klopp seemed to have found a way to fit all of the club’s best players into the starting eleven. You had Mane on the left, Oxlade-Chamberlain on the right, Salah and Firmino up front.
If we keep things positive and Liverpool deliver a win over West Brom in their Emirates FA Cup tie this weekend, the Reds will then as after the 4-3 win over Manchester City show there’s no point in linking the club to a transfer involving a replacement for Coutinho. Things should work just fine the way they are right now.
We could expect a replacement for Sturridge though who has been heavily linked to a loan move to Inter Milan after apparent interest from Sevilla evaporated. It is somewhat understandable that England striker Sturridge, who has seen little Premier League football this season, would be looking for more opportunities with the World Cup coming up fast. Since 2013 he has been injured every single season and missed a total of 564 days from his Liverpool career. What is even sadder is that his longest injury lasted for almost 150 days meaning that the rest were scattered across the past 6 years.
Liverpool haven’t been counting on Sturridge, so it’s common sense to sign someone to replace him. According to Sky Sports, the replacement might come from WBA in the form of 28-year-old Venezuelan striker Salomon Rondon. Even though Klopp is looking at the South American as a second or third option, there’s still a good chance of seeing this deal being sealed by the end of January.
Rondon is strong and is a handful in front of goal. He has scored 5 goals and provided 2 assists this season and ended last season with 40 games, 8 goals and 2 assists which playing in a low scoring West Brom team is actually pretty good. He would be excellent for set pieces or for tight games that need the team to play long-balls up front. Salah and Firmino are technical and fast not tall and strong so again, signing Rondon makes sense as he is a good target man who you could send on late in games when you need a goal. While Solanke has a similar profile, he does not have Rondon’s strength or enough experience for Liverpool to turn to during tough times. The Venezuela international is at the right age to know when and what to do to get the most out of any situation.
There’s no transfer fee rumored for Salomon Rondon who joined WBA from Zenit for just over £12million in 2015. It would be safe to say he would cost Liverpool double that despite his current contract ending in the summer of 2019.
You would expect Liverpool will have to respond to their top 6 rivals’ big signings. Manchester United have made a big-time acquisition and statement of intent by anding Alexis Sanchez, Arsenal have improved by both moving Sanchez and with the acquisition of Henrikh Mkhitaryan plus they are bidding for Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang, Manchester City are looking like they will be making some big moves with likely acquisitions of Fred and Aymeric Laporte and Chelsea are poised to sign either Edin Dzeko or another striker to add their earlier signing of Ross Barkley.