Brendan Rodgers is clearly looking to add some threat down the flanks next season. Last year Raheem Sterling cemented his status as one of English football’s brightest young sparks, but Chelsea loanee Victor Moses failed to make a mark at Anfield. This leaves the door wide open for Brendan Rodgers to start considering other options.
It wasn’t Liverpool’s attack that let Brendan Rodgers down last season. They did everything they could to drive The Reds to Premier League success and were only undermined by the club’s defense. Still, adding more options in this department (doubling down, if you like) could prove to be an astute decision.
If The Reds want to continue to play the same brand of exciting, attacking football, they may well need another option or two. This is particularly true given that they’ll be playing Champions League football next year.
This brings me to The Mirror‘s claim that The Reds are targeting Dynamo Kiev’s wing-wizard, Andriy Yarmolenko. If they really are interested in Yarmolenko, they’ll need to fight off attention from clubs like Chelsea, Stoke and West Ham.
As it happens, this is the second Ukrainian winger that Liverpool have been linked to in the last six months. Remember how close Brendan Rodgers came to signing Yevhen Konoplyanka on deadline day last January?
I have to say, based on pure goal-scoring nous, Yarmolenko looks like a better option than Konoplyanka. He’s made 146 appearances for Kiev and has found the back of the net 54 times. That’s an excellent return for a winger. He’s also been successful at international level where he has scored 15 goals in 40 games.
Last season he was in particularly fine form, scoring 21 goals in 39 games (a return that most strikers would die for!). Contrast this to Konoplyanka who scored 13 goals in 36 games. There’s a clear difference there.
The aforementioned source suggests that Andriy Yarmolenko would cost Liverpool £15m. For a 24-year-old who keeps getting better and better, this looks like a fair price. Let’s just hope that Brendan Rodgers agrees and is willing to continue The Reds’ spending spree.
What’s your take? Would Andriy Yarmolenko be a good option for The Reds?
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