Journalist puts forward ‘devilish proposition’ to help Slot solve Liverpool’s attacking crisis | OneFootball

Less than six months on from spending almost £450m in one transfer window, Liverpool now find themselves with only two natural senior forwards available.

Mo Salah is on Egypt duty at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), Cody Gakpo is currently injured and Alexander Isak looks set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines after suffering a suspected broken leg in the win over Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.

It leaves only Hugo Ekitike and Federico Chiesa available to Arne Slot in terms of senior attackers, with the Italian and 17-year-old Rio Ngumoha rarely ever trusted to start for the Reds despite both proving themselves capable of making an impact.

Ian Ladyman suggests using Salah at centre-forward

Liverpool continue to be strongly linked with Antoine Semenyo ahead of the January transfer window, but one journalist has put forward an internal solution to help manage the attacking crisis at Anfield.

In his latest column for the Daily Mail, Ian Ladyman wrote: ‘I have often wondered why Mo Salah has spent all of his Liverpool career on the right hand side of the field. Last season’s Player of the Year would be a devilish proposition playing through the middle.

‘It would represent a new way for Salah to get back in Arne Slot’s starting eleven, certainly. Come on Mo, drag yourself out from under that bus. Your club will need you in January.’

(Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)

Salah has previous as a centre-forward for Liverpool

The Egyptian has played at centre-forward for Liverpool on 33 previous occasions, scoring 28 goals (Transfermarkt), but the bulk of those were in his first three seasons at Anfield.

He nonetheless represents a potential option to be used through the middle if Slot is eager to rest Ekitike or if (heaven forbid) the in-form Frenchman becomes unavailable, with Florian Wirtz and Gakpo also capable of operating as no.9s if required.

Deploying Salah centrally would obviously leave a vacancy on the right flank, although Dominik Szoboszlai has operated in that position. There’s also Chiesa, of course, but we know that the head coach is strangely reluctant to select the Italian in his starting XI.

Ideally we won’t have to deviate from Ekitike too often for the remainder of the season, but it’s inevitably that the 23-year-old will need a breather at some point, and Ladyman’s suggestion of playing our number 11 at centre-forward isn’t as radical as some might think.

Obviously Slot will have to wait until after the conclusion of Egypt’s AFCON involvement to put that theory into practice, but it mightn’t be all that outrageous to a head coach who hasn’t been slow to deploy multiple midfielders as emergency right-backs in recent weeks and months.