Despite spending over £115 million this summer following their impressive run last season, Liverpool have struggled so far both domestically and on the continent.
The Reds are barely in the top half of the table, and having crashed out of the Champions League yesterday, European football for next term currently seems like a tough task to achieve. While they will now how to contend with the Europa League, considering that they spent £20 million on strikers--£4 million on Southampton's Rickie Lambert and the other £16 million on Milan's Mario Balotelli--this is not something that fans obviously will be too pleased with.
Daniel Sturridge, Luis Suarez's partner in crime last season has endured a rough time this time around, with just one goal in all competitions. However, when the top scorer on the team is iconic captain Steven Gerrard, who while a fine midfielder is approaching the last years of his footballing career, one cannot blame Liverpool from being reportedly keen on bringing in some new options to help bolster their struggling attack.
Not surprisingly, the media has them linked with a whole crop of strikers from across Europe's biggest leagues and the team are prepared to spend £20 million--the exact amount they did for Lambert and Balotelli--to try and lure one of their options to Anfield.
Napoli's Gonzalo Higuain is one that has been liked with a Premier League switch, with the Argentinian reportedly becoming disgruntled in Italy. Another is Porto star Jackson Martinez but the Colombian is apparently priced at £30 million by the Portuguese giants, and Swanesa's Wilfried Bony is another mooted as a possibility.
PSG star Edinson Cavani who is not happy with life in Paris due to having to playing second fiddle to Zlatan Ibrahimovic is still another player who has been linked with a switch to England. However, Liverpool would face competition from fellow English sides Arsenal and Manchester United, both of whom have also been linked with interest in the former Napoli ace.
Palermo rising star Paulo Dybala is one that has been also associated with a move to a bigger club, and has a price tag of £10-12 million, depending on whom one asks. The 23-year-old Argentinian, who also has Italian and Polish citizenship is currently the Rosanero's top scorer with seven goals in all competitions and was compared to Sergio Aguero by the club's eccentric president, Maurizio Zamparini, who also claimed that his new signing had garnered the interest of fellow Italian side Inter, as well as Chelsea and PSG.
Given their struggles and the failure of new signings Lambert and Balotelli to really get going, it looks likely that Liverpool--with or without Brendan Rodgers at the helm--could opt to open their cheque-book in an attempt to bring in another option. However, it will be interesting to see whether any of their rumored targets comes to fruition, and if so, if it will happen in January, or more likely, during this summer's transfer window.
