Liverpool enter race for “outrageous” £56m striker

Darwin Nunez continues to trundle towards the exit door at Liverpool, forsaking him a pre-season of preparation in purple that has been wealthy with targets.

However the Uruguayan began solely as soon as within the Premier League after Boxing Day final season and scored simply seven targets throughout 47 matches in all competitions. Provided that he scored a brace towards Brentford, the 25-year-old blanked 41 instances beneath Arne Slot‘s wing final 12 months.

So then, Liverpool might want to signal a brand new striker, even having bought Hugo Ekitike from Eintracht Frankfurt for an preliminary £69m price.

Provided that Luis Diaz was offered to Bayern Munich for £65.5m final month, you may assume a brand new electric-paced left winger could be on the prime of sporting director Richard Hughes’ agenda.

However Rio Ngumoha might nicely have modified that narrative.

Liverpool’s newest prodigy

A star is born. Ngumoha can’t be denied now: that is an up-and-coming participant with the potential to go proper to the highest.

However let’s park our pleasure for a second; Ngumoha is barely 16 in spite of everything, and should be dripped into life on the skilled circuit, not poured proper in and exhausted earlier than he has had the prospect to develop his outstanding technical and athletic colleges.

Nonetheless, his goal-and-assist efficiency towards Athletic Bilbao on Monday afternoon was fairly the Anfield debut. Pleasant although it was, the attacking midfielder performed with such gusto and slickness on the ball, striding ahead and unleashing a assured looping strike from exterior the world to show the limelight onto him.

Is it any surprise he has been described as a “particular” expertise by journalist Bence Bocsak, who stated {the teenager} “has accomplished extra dribbles (14) than some other #LFC participant in pre-season.”

Slot will likely be eager to placate the mounting noise round his title, however you possibly can’t assist however assume that Liverpool have spawned a custom-built Diaz substitute, one who may play fairly the necessary function within the years to return.

Nguomha’s ball-carrying skill and capability for objective contributions of all styles and sizes counsel he may type a harmful partnership with Ekitike over the approaching years, however the identical stands for an additional centre-forward Liverpool are desirous about signing this summer time.

Liverpool lining up one other striker

No, it is not Alexander Isak we’re on about right here. The Newcastle United quantity 9 is Liverpool’s dream goal, however the Magpies are taking part in hardball and won’t even discover a becoming substitute.

Thus, Caught Offside have revealed that Liverpool have entered the race for Paris Saint-Germain ahead Goncalo Ramos, who has fallen out of favour in Luis Enrique’s system.

PSG would hope to recoup one thing within the ballpark of €65m (£56m) for the Portugal worldwide, who, aged 24, hopes to take the subsequent step in his profession and change into a focus for his facet.

Although Liverpool need to signal Isak above all others, Ramos would hardly be a poor fallback, and he is additionally wished by Aston Villa, Manchester United, Juventus and Napoli.

What Goncalo Ramos would convey to Liverpool

Ramos minimize his enamel in his homeland with Benfica earlier than signing for PSG in an €80m (£70m) deal in 2023, coming off the again of a breakout World Cup marketing campaign in Qatar 2022.

Although the Iberian ahead has solely scored 33 targets throughout 86 matches for the French giants, helping eight targets apart from, he is not often featured because the star man, beginning ten Ligue 1 fixtures in 2024/25. Nonetheless, he scored ten instances.

And the underlying knowledge is in his favour too. As per FBref, Ramos ranked among the many prime 4% of forwards throughout Europe’s prime 5 leagues final season for targets scored, the highest 11% for assists, the highest 9% for cross completion and the highest 2% for touches within the attacking field per 90.

The regular charge of prolific performances throughout Ramos’ senior profession so far means that Slot may form into one of many world’s foremost forwards, proving the right long-term dance associate for an up-and-coming expertise like Ngumoha.

Hailed as an “outrageous” participant by expertise scout Jacek Kulig, Ramos’ big selection of offensive devices bespeaks his suitability in Slot’s system at Liverpool. He is quick, highly effective and nimble, suggesting he may function throughout a wide range of roles for a coach who has displayed a desire for forwards who’re keen to be fluid of their roles.

But when Ngumoha’s fast-developing potential has something to say, it is unlikely that Slot could be searching for to transform the right-footer right into a left-sided ahead, whose tempo could be used to swerve inside, able to strike on objective.

Moreover, Ekitike has certainly already signed on and can convey to the Premier League a extra refined and expansive recreation as a frontman. In any case, the Frenchman is a imply and still-improving goalscorer himself, thus apt to dovetail proper into the Slot machine.

However Ramos would convey the icing on the cake, guaranteeing Liverpool have sufficient firepower to compete throughout a number of fronts this season, even when the concerted effort to signal Isak falls flat.

FBref report that each Isak and Ekitike are statistically comparable gamers to the PSG star, so he is definitely bought the suitable ability set.

And with Ngumoha already making waves throughout the Liverpool first workforce, there is not any cause why these two stars could not strike up a mesmerising partnership within the years to return.