Liverpool striker set to depart in surprise multi-million mega deal | OneFootball

Despite Liverpool having a lack of depth in attack, the club is reportedly about to let one of their options go.

Arne Slot's squad seems to be dwindling with every passing day. Ahead of the Qarabag Champions League clash on Wednesday night, only 19 players trained with the first-team.

Two of these were Rio Ngumoha and Trey Nyoni, not exactly senior options.

Liverpool look especially short in attack right now. Federico Chiesa has an injury and Alexander Isak is ruled out for several months.

This leaves just Hugo Ekitike as Slot's only no.9 option. He has used Cody Gakpo there as well but it's clear that this is not the former PSV attacker's preferred nor best position.

Normally at times like this, a manager that is not Slot would be looking at the academy to promote a young talent and given them an opportunity to make their mark in senior football.

Slot seems to have other ideas though. Even though Liverpool currently have the Premier League 2 top-scorer in Keyrol Figueroa who has netted 11 times in 12 games and is averaging a goal every 54 minutes in the league for the Reds' U21 side, the USMYT international has not gotten any opportunities to make his mark at senior level.

At 19-years-old, Figueroa is definitely ready to go out and do that.

If it's not going to happen at Liverpool then somewhere else. Although it's still a surprise that given the club's situation right now they would be willing to entertain ideas of him leaving for pastures new.

Well, according to Canto das Transferências on X, that is exactly what Liverpool want to do. The account claims that Figueroa is closing in on a move to FC Porto in the coming days and that this move while initially expected to be a loan deal will include an option to buy.

The move would be a surprise, but what is even more of a surprise is the paltry option to buy fee, set at just €4m.

This would make Figueroa an absolute bargain for Porto considering his performances this season and just how highly rated he has been for a long time at academy level.

He made his debut as a 15-year-old and has been a prolific scorer at all age-groups within the club. Since Rob Page arrived at Kirkby, Figueroa has taken his game to another level.

He has a real striker's poacher instinct, finds himself in goal-scoring positions all the time and also has an excellent leap on him that makes him an aerial threat even though he is not the tallest forward.

Ultimately, there is a high ceiling for Figueroa.

Which is why letting him potentially leave permanently in a multi-million deal for Porto just doesn't make sense for Liverpool.

The next best solution would be either to integrate him into the first-team or to loan him out without an option to buy and let him get a taste of adult football somewhere else.