26yo Sevilla star can be the perfect Sadio Mane successor
A 26-year-old Sevilla star can be the perfect Sadio Mane successor as Liverpool look to plan for the future.
Jurgen Klopp’s team faces a breakup. The front three are hurtling towards their decline all at the same time, and we’ve seen Roberto Firmino struggle to have the same impact in matches as he previously had.
Sporting director Michael Edwards will be looking for targets across the world, and Liverpool have been linked with a move for a La Liga star.
Lucas Ocampos can be the Sadio Mane successor
Lucas Ocampos has been impressing fo Sevilla, where he finally appears to be fulfilling the promise that saw him become Ligue 2’s most expensive signing of all time when Monaco bought the Argentine from River Plate for €11 million in 2012.
He was nominated for the European Golden Boy award in 2014, the year that Raheem Sterling won it, but despite Ocampos’s clear promise he was sold to Marseille, before loans to Genoa and AC Milan.
Ocampos plays mainly off the left, and has scored 24 goals and contributed nine assists in 74 games for Sevilla. This ratio of nearly one in three is an excellent return for a winger and proves Ocampos’s eye for goal.
Liverpool need to think
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He would make a good successor for Sadio Mane based on the fact that Sevilla are a selling club, they always have been, the player is a good age and appears to be on an upward trajectory.
At 26, Ocampos is a bit of a late bloomer. Sure, he was nominated for that Golden Boy award but hasn’t hit the heights that have been predicted of him. He’s also barely featured for top clubs, and would surely welcome the chance to do so with Liverpool.
Klopp has talked about his desire to sign players who haven’t made it yet as they stay hungry, and I suppose, loyal. The same thing happened with Mane and Mohamed Salah, and once Klopp got his hands on them they become massive stars.
That could repeat itself with Ocampos, who has some international experience, a little in the Champions League but has a whole lot left to prove.