9 hours ago
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Emile Heskey, former Liverpool striker, has voiced his opinion that the club will not regret the decision to sell Luis Diaz, but he also emphasized the need for patience as Florian Wirtz acclimatises to life on Merseyside.
Heskey, a crucial member of the Reds' treble-winning squad in 2001, believes the sale of Diaz to Bayern Munich in July was a sound business move. He suggests that the departure of the Colombian winger has opened up an opportunity for Cody Gakpo, who, despite three consecutive losses against Crystal Palace, Galatasaray, and Chelsea, is yet to make his mark in the Liverpool team this season.
"I think Gakpo needs to come into his own," Heskey told Pundit Arena. "I think he's got to show a little bit more, especially on that left wing. He needs to show a little bit more for me.
"I was hoping he could be the one that would be stepping into that void that Luis Diaz has left. I don't think they regret selling Diaz though, business is business.
"No matter how much a team spends on a player, they're still going to need a little period of bedding in and it might be longer for some than others. When you look at Luis Suarez, he hit the ground running.
"But not every player's like that. Wirtz is needing that bedding in [period], especially with the price tag because that will be in his head as well.
"I don't think [Wirtz's start] would have dented his confidence. Sometimes you've got to take someone out of the firing line. You've got to remember this and we talk about it all the time with this being the toughest league in the world and being the most relentless as well.
"So some players need to be taken out the firing line and taken out the firing line for their own good, because if you ask the player, they'll say, 'no, keep me playing'. And it might not be right for them.
"So sometimes you take them out the firing line, give them a little freshen up, and then put them back in and slowly bring them back into the team. When you look at the intensity that he has to play at in this Liverpool side, I doubt he would've had to play like that ever before.
"So he's got to get used to that and then as well, when you're talking about defensively, you've got to say some of the Premier League defences are the best in the world. So I think you've just got to give the players like Wirtz time."
Liverpool returns to Premier League action on Sunday when it welcomes Manchester United to Anfield, with Arne Slot heading into English soccer's most-watched match on the back of his worst spell as Reds manager, having suffered three consecutive defeats before the international break.
Former England forward Heskey continued: "Defensively, he wants to get things solid again. Konate and Van Dijk were solid last season but it just looks a little bit jaded.
"Obviously with the full-backs, Trent's not there anymore, Frimpong and Kirkez are just bedding in. So Slot is trying to find that match that Robertson, Van Dijk, Konate and Trent had. They were solid and he's got to try and find that again. It might not look exactly the same, but it's got to have some sort of solidity to it.
"If you're talking about out and out strikers, I'd rather have Isak starting than Ekitike because I've seen him do it before. Don't get me wrong, I think Ekitike has done fantastic and he's got so much to give.
"I'd be interested to see if it could be done with two of them up front or one of them on the left drifting in with Kerkez coming and overlapping a little bit more."
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