Despite the £29 million signing of Hoffenheim's Roberto Firmino being sealed, Liverpool are still looking to cure their striking insufficiency from last season. But what are they supposed to do with one of their own?

With only three Liverpool players scoring a number of league goals you couldn't count on one hand last term, Brendan Rodgers is looking - and needing - to strengthen their goalscoring department at Anfield as soon as possible. The manager failed insufferably to replace Luis Suárez when he went to Barcelona, and this summer the challenge might even pile further up.

No strikers inside the top three

Having three players to stand out wouldn't be an issue if being oustanding actually was what they were doing, but 22 league goals among your top three scorers simply isn't sufficient when you want to push competitors out of the top four. And with Steven Gerrard on nine goals, Raheem Sterling on seven and Jordan Henderson on six, the already mountainous problem might even escalate further over the summer, as Sterling steadily approaches the point of no return in his Liverpool career.

If you put the 22 league goals into a Liverpool context, Daniel Sturridge single-handedly managed 21 successful strikes during the 2013/14 campaign, when Liverpool were narrowly pipped to that elusive Premier League title. The trio of Sturrige, Suárez and Gerrard scored an incredible 65 league goals that season. This season, the Reds only managed 52, shared among fifteen different scorers, on the top of four own goals.

In other words, Liverpool fans will probably be pleased to see that Ben Smith of the BBC is reporting that "a striker is still a target" on social media, despite the signing of Firmino already confirmed as a done deal.

"Balotelli will remain"

On the other hand, Liverpool seem to be stuck with the Italian striker Mario Balotelli, who arrived from AC Milan for £16m last summer. Added to his £110,000-a-week wages, Balotelli has in other words cost the Merseysiders £22 million. That's £5.5 million per goal and ultimately, £22 million for the one and only league goal. And the only Premier League assist he ever has provided came in a Manchester City shirt.

However, neither the likes of The Guardian, The Telegraph or Sky Sports have been running a single story on Balotelli to leave Liverpool this summer. The player's agent, Mino Raiola, has even stated to the latter sources that the 24-year-old "will remain at Liverpool" so it looks like Brendan Rodgers and co. may find it difficult to shake him, despite loan links with Sampdoria. 

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About the author
Nicolas Berg
Football analyst with a degree in media knowledge.