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Liverpool head coach Arne Slot was impressed with the performance of his new signing, Hugo Ekitike, in the Community Shield defeat to Crystal Palace.
But he admitted that he couldn't afford to take any chances with the $106 million (£79 million) Frenchman's fitness because he doesn't have many other options available up front right now after the sales of Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez.
Earlier this weekend, Nunez's switch to Al-Hilal in the Saudi Pro League was confirmed. And that leaves Ekitike as the only senior center forward among the Liverpool roster amid the chase for Newcastle's Alexander Isak.
"It is always nice to score a goal not only for Hugo but also for Jeremie Frimpong, if you start with a new club," Slot said. "But it would have been even nicer to win the game of football because he had even more impact than scoring a goal.
"[Ekitike] is also an example of a player that came only one and a half or two weeks ago, at the end of the Asia tour. And with only four days before the Friday game, it would not have been smart to play him 90 minutes.
"Of course, we have Federico [Chiesa] but he has not been with us in the Asia tour as well, so there is not a lot to replace [Ekitike] with at this moment in time.
"So, if he gets an injury, that would be a big risk for the Bournemouth, Newcastle and Arsenal games. That is why I took him off, but he had a good game today, that is for sure."
Chiesa barely featured last season, while Diaz, now playing in Germany, was deployed through the middle of the Liverpool attack pretty often in what proved to be his final campaign with the Anfield side.
Of the six senior attackers that Liverpool had on its books last season, only Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo remain aside from Chiesa, who could return to Italy before the September 1 transfer deadline.
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With only Ekitike to play through the middle, though, Liverpool is light on numbers in the final third. And though it got a good deal when it sold Nunez for $62 million (£46 million), the pressure is on now to find a replacement.
Even in the event of Isak proving to be a possibility for Liverpool, there is an argument to bring in another forward on top of that. Rio Ngumoha, the breakout star of pre-season, wasn't brought off the bench at Wembley.
While Liverpool does not want to block the pathway of Ngumoha as he continues to develop, he is still only 16. Slot cannot afford to be caught out in attack, with silverware on the line.
Liverpool.com says: Signing a number nine is a must but getting another winger in to upgrade on Chiesa is surely something that would be considered as well. Liverpool has signed lots of players but it is an area of the field where it would be very costly not to have enough depth, especially with AFCON coming up in a few months.
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