Liverpool linked with January move for Spanish striker – Reports

TalkSport is reporting that Liverpool are set to battle Roma for the signature of Atletico Madrid striker Adrian Lopez in January. Adrian, who has just over 18 months left on his current deal, is valued at around £7million.

The current striker situation at Liverpool is very delicate. Right now Suarez and Sturridge are on form, fit and firing in the goals so there are no real concerns there. The problem then comes when one of them gets injured or suspended. Rodgers would have to look at his back up options and they are very thin.

Iago Aspas is the only other out-and-out striker in the squad be he is currently injured and has struggled to get going since arriving at Liverpool in the summer from Celta Vigo. Against Fulham on Saturday when Daniel Sturridge was subbed off, Victor Moses is the player that came on for him so he too could be another striking option.

But for Liverpool to maintain a charge for the top four and maybe even the title, we need at least four decent strikers in the squad. Currently there is only three in Suarez, Sturridge and Aspas so it would not surprise me at all if Brendan Rodgers does indeed opt to bolster the strikeforce in January.

Now looking at Adrian Lopez, he is currently spending time on the Atletico bench as Diego Costa and David Villa occupy the striking roles, so he must be desperate to get more playing time and a move to another club could just be what he needs to kick on with his career. Lopez is 25-years old and has already managed to get two caps for the Spanish national team.

Lopez had his best season in front of goal in 2011 – 2012 for Atletico when he managed to grab 23 goals. The following season he struggled and only managed 5 as Falcao grabbed the headlines for Atletico. This term he has been hit by injury and only started four games without scoring yet.

You can see that he does know where the back of the goal is but is he prolific enough for what we need at Liverpool? In my opinion, it would just be like signing another Iago Aspas. Brendan Rodgers needs to bring in a striker who will not take time to adjust to the Premier League and find the back of the net straight away when called upon. One such player who could prove to be a decent short term signing for Liverpool would be Tottenham’s Jermain Defoe.