After coming from behind to take down one of the Premier League’s most exciting sides in Brighton, Liverpool are now firmly in the driver’s seat in the Premier League after both Arsenal and Newcastle lost that very Saturday afternoon.
Liverpool look like an even more dangerous team under Arne Slot in 2024/25, as the Dutch manager has morphed Ryan Gravenberch into a world-class midfielder while getting more out of two more top talents in left wingers Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz.
Despite Diaz and Gakpo shining across from Mohamed Salah on the wings in the Liverpool front three, the Reds are still in need of some more attacking firepower, specifically at striker.
Jurgen Klopp’s favorite child, Darwin Nunez, appears to be taking another step back this season. He’s scored just one goal and one assist through three months of Premier League action, making more appearances off the bench than starts.
Right now, Salah, the best player in the league, is one of the only two players on Liverpool with more than two goals this season – the other is Diaz. With Salah’s contract expiring, the Reds need to remain vigilant at the right wing position.
They need to scope out goal-scoring options and create a just-in-case list. Everyone knows Salah is more likely to re-sign with Liverpool than not, but with each passing month he doesn’t sign a new contract with the Reds, those pesky Saudi Arabia rumors keep getting louder.
Liverpool are in need of more goal-scoring juice due to Nunez’s struggles, even with Salah in the lineup, and Sky Sports’s Lyall Thomas reports that Michael Edwards and Co. are after two Premier League breakout stars in Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo and Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo.
Semenyo just had himself a day to remember in the Cherries’ 2-1 upset of Manchester City, as he scored the opening goal while impressing even more with his all-around numbers.
The 24-year-old had six dribbles completed, three key passes, and two fouls drawn in a historic upset of the defending champions. Semenyo is a real rising star for Bournemouth, and the right winger’s versatility as a center forward or left winger makes him an even more attractive target to Liverpool, regardless of Salah’s future.
Mbeumo is likely a more prized target, because virtually every club competing for European places in the Premier League wants him. He is the new face of Brentford after Ivan Toney’s own big-money move to Saudi Arabia, and he’s an even better player.
After scoring a combined 18 goals with 14 assists in the last two Premier League seasons, the 25-year-old is already up to 8 goals in 9 starts this season with an average of nearly 2 key passes per game and 2.5 combined dribbles completed and fouls drawn per match.
There may not be a better right winger to sign in the Premier League as a Salah replacement than Mbeumo, so it makes perfect sense for Liverpool to want both him and Semenyo in 2025.
