Despite everything that’s already happened this summer – six new players coming in, an overhaul of the coaching staff and the continuation of the Sterling saga – there is still one very obvious piece missing from the puzzle.
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We need a striker. We’ve needed one since last summer, when Luis Suarez left for Barcelona, because Mario Balotelli, Fabio Borini and Rickie Lambert sure haven’t done all that much to help fill that void.
Carlos Bacca – a rumoured target (via the Metro) – has already joined AC Milan, while Aston Villa are refusing to meet us half-way over our potential deal for Christian Benteke… more on that later.
In this list, we count down five plausible targets that are still available over the next few weeks, as we count down into the final month before the start of the new season. We weigh up their respective pros and cons below…
Christian Benteke (Aston Villa)
Pros: He’s certainly a proven Premier League striker, with a respectable 42 goals in 88 games for a predominately struggling team. On paper, he’d also compliment the likes of Daniel Sturridge and Divock Origi, with the fast-paced duo able to capitalise off Benteke’s knock-downs. He offers us a different kind of threat that could work well.
Cons: The asking price. Villa are refusing to accept less that £32.5m – the striker’s buyout clause – in order to sell him, according to reports in the Liverpool Echo. If were were to eventually pay that fee, the pressure on the 24-year-old to produce would be incredibly high. There are also concerns that he’d struggle to adapt to our style.
