Ever since the dawn of 2017, Liverpool have only been the shadow of their former selves. A team which spent a large chunk of first six months in the vicinity of the pinnacle of the league table in Jürgen Klopp’s first full season at the helm have suddenly found themselves being withered away of the title race as well as other domestic bragging rights and silverwares. It is always nightmarish for a team with a rich and illustrious history like the Reds, who are yet to clinch the Premier League; can it get worse?
Liverpool have themselves to blame for their downfall and failure to resurrect in time, but then when will the blame game cease to exist? The animosity for the top four berths in the Premier League is becoming too hard to cope for a side as inconsistent as Liverpool and they must escape from the shackles of mediocrity and helplessness very soon. Klopp does have a good side but there are still many areas of improvisation and one of the prime targets he has reportedly set his eyes on is Leicester City’s Demarai Gray.
Gray is one of the hottest properties which the top tier of English football has on offer: he is sharp, technically sound and agile, has raw pace in his legs, toils relentlessly up and down the flanks and dribbles pretty well. Klopp has always been an advocate of nurturing young talents and elevating them to the next level and that is precisely why the 20-year-old’s move to the Anfield makes complete sense.
Signed from Birmingham City in the summer of 2016 for £3.5 million, he hasn’t had a dream spell so far for the Foxes which may be traced to the notion that he is still a rough gem, far from being an end product.
Nonetheless, he has been good for Claudio Ranieri’s side in the league this term, scoring a goal and creating 9 chances in the limited opportunities he has been entrusted with. Liverpool have quite a lot of unfulfilled goals and next season will only get harder irrespective of Champions League football. A winger like Gray can certainly be a long term solution for them. Although he needs to up his end product and goal-scoring rate, he would still add truckloads of quality to any side he joins and arguably, drawing him into Liverpool’s ranks would be something Klopp wouldn’t regret.
Statistics Credits: Squawka.
