Rhian Brewster is the Liverpool £20 million striker.
Ask any Liverpool fan what their hopes are for the upcoming transfer market and they will tell you that a new striker is a must. Not because they have any misgivings about the current front three of Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino, and Mohamed Salah but it’s more a case of what happens if one of those gets a long term injury.
Divock Origi has the ability, no one doubts it, but there is a level of consistency that you must have to be a great player and he simply doesn’t deliver often enough.
There are also massive question marks over Japanese forward, Takumi Minamino, who looks to be struggling to settle in on Merseyside. The answer to this issue seems to be a simple one: splash the cash.
Early in the year it seemed as if the club agreed and everybody was super excited about Timo Werner’s impending arrival at Anfield. But it just wasn’t to be and Werner signed for the third biggest club in London after COVID restrictions left the football world reeling.
Nobody was happy that we missed out on Werner due to the financial restraints caused by the lockdowns. The problem is that fans rule with their hearts and not their heads and often don’t see the business side of the industry that has to be addressed.
The truth is that Liverpool aren’t owned by Saudi billionaires that see the club as a plaything. Liverpool are in fact run as a shrewd business whose aim is to build financially successful sporting dynasties. Because the club is run in such a way they rely a lot on projected incomes. As with any business they have to look ahead at what money will be coming in before they can invest in growth.
Yes, they will have had money sitting aside after not spending any significant amount on players for three transfer windows on top of winnings from the Champions League and Premier League.
However, the club’s future income is still uncertain. No one knows when crowds will be allowed back into games or how much sponsorship they will be able to bring in from companies that are all doing it tough.
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Liverpool have already spent big on renewing current player contracts and have no idea if the current pandemic will result in more restrictions. With this in mind, it makes no business sense to spend surplus cash that could and should be used to protect the club’s staff and long term future.
I am not saying that we have no money to spend. How much will depend on who we can sell in the coming weeks, but if reports of attempts to knock the Werner price down from £50 million to £30 million are true and the fact we are looking to snaffle Brazilian youngster Talles Mango from Vasco da Gama for around 18 million, you quickly get a picture at what FSG are looking at spending.
If this is the case and we have no more than £20 million to spend on a striker, you have to ask, how much it would cost to buy Rhian Brewster in today’s market?
Rhian has divided the reds faithful because he has not played particularly well when given his chance in the Liverpool first team. But we have to remember that the striker spent all of 2018 on the sidelines thanks to an ankle injury and was in desperate need of a run of games when he finally made his less than impressive competitive debut for Liverpool against MK Dons in September 2019.
Since then he has been on loan at Championship club Swansea City scoring 11 goals in 22 games helping guide the Welsh club to the playoffs.
It’s a pretty decent scoring return for the young lad, but it’s the quality of the goals and the tenacity of the performances that Swansea fans enjoyed most and have me wondering, could we actually find anyone better than Rhian Brewster for £20 million?
I don’t agree with many things that Sir Alex Ferguson has said in the past but I do agree with this, “When in doubt go with the enthusiasm of youth,” and with Liverpool not looking to spend big on the likes of Jadon Sancho they could do worse than listening to the advice of the former Manchester Utd boss.
Of course, Rhian, Mango, and Harvey Elliot aren’t likely to be first choice, but we could have a trio of exciting talent to call upon when the front three need a rest.