Many have waxed poetic over Liverpool's wonderfully lethal front three this season, though for all of their attacking intesnsity, their effect on the balance of the team as a whole remains as fragile as their defensive line.

Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Philippe Coutinho offer Jurgen Klopp an incredibly varied front line, though while the Reds' emphasis on the collective is widely celebrated, they seem almost too reliant on each other. Coutinho's injury towards the end of 2016 deprived Liverpool of their most gifted attacker, someone who can operate across the final third, able to provide a spark of genius in tight games.

When Mane departed for the African Cup of Nations in January of this year, they lost the sort of devastating directness that made them such a threat at the start of the campaign. Firmino, meanwhile, has made the most appearances of the lot this season and is crucial to the high pressing game.

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Neither Divock Origi nor the current version of Daniel Sturridge we see moping about Merseyside offer the same pressing threat. Strangely enough, the duo seem to offer little towards Klopp's Plan A, nor do they seem to fit into any sort of system that caters towards even the mere idea of a Plan B.

Though the problems at Champions League rivals Arsenal are well-documented at the moment, part of the reason the Gunners still harbour realistic aspirations of making the top four is down to their ability to swap between Alexis Sanchez and Olivier Giroud in central striking areas. As the fixtures piled up for Wenger's side over the course of the winter period, Giroud scored five goals in five games to help Arsenal keep the pressure on the Premier League's top order.

In stark contrast to the situation in north London, there's a widely accepted notion that Liverpool's title hopes evaporated over the same period and their season became very much a battle to qualify for the Champions League, mainly down to their failure to bring in a forward who could offer the same options someone like Giroud could in the arduous winter months.

So, the need to go out and purchase such a player over the course of the summer should be just as important to Klopp and those working behind the scenes at Liverpool as looking for new defenders is.

One man who'd certainly fit the bill is Roma striker Edin Dzeko. The idea of bringing the former Manchester City forward back to England may not instantly strike fans as the most inspiring, though could be the sort of pragmatic approach Liverpool are in dire need of.

A Premier League winner, Dzeko is back in the goals over in Serie A, bagging a rather impressive 30 in the Italian capital so far this season. Spearheading Luciano Spalletti's attack, the 30-year-old largely operates in either a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-3 suggesting his link-up play is of a high quality, while the likes of Diego Perotti and Mohamed Salah run off him.

Not only does he provide a physical focal point, Dzeko's hard work in dropping deep to pick up possesion can also help the likes of Coutinho, Firmino and the more direct Mane create space should the Reds need to push up the field quickly. So, not only would he fit in Liverpool's Plan A, he'd give them a second option with his physical prowess when Klopp is forced to take the game to the more unfashionable outfits in the league.

The more you think about it, the more a move just seems to make sense.

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