Liverpool still have central reservation

SEASON'S GOAL GLUT ACROSS THE PARK CAN'T DISGUISE NEED FOR A MORE PROLIFIC NO.9

- By IAN DOYLE

LIVERPOOL rattled home a whopping 123 goals in all competitions last season. But a further drill into the figures highlights exactly why the Reds' big summer evolution may still have one more significant new arrival to come.

With £29million Jeremie Frimpong on board, club record £116m Florian Wirtz on his way and £45m-rated Milos Kerkez to follow, Liverpool are already on course for their high-est-ever transfer window spend.

A new number nine, though, appears an increasing certainty, even if it may require some market jiggery-pokery from Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes and the recruitment team for the move to be realised.

Just 17 goals were scored last term by a play-er starting in a central striking role for Liver-pool, and one of those - Dominik Szoboszlai’s effort in the 2-0 win at Manchester City in Feb-ruary - was from a player ostensibly not oper-ating there at all.

It’s telling the highest individual total of eight was scored by Luis Diaz, who isn't a cen-tre forward by trade. Darwin Nunez contrib-uted five and Diogo Jota three, although both made an impact with important goals as a substitute.

Some of that shortfall can be explained by the tactics employed by Arne Slot last term, with a reliance on getting wide players into scoring positions. In total, 24 goals were net-ted by starters on the left flank - 17 for Cody Gakpo, seven for Diaz - while on the right flank only one of Mohamed Salah’s 34 goals came from the bench.