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Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has hinted that he would like to see another attacking signing happen before the September 1 transfer deadline — after the Reds sold Darwin Nunez to Saudi Arabia.
Against Crystal Palace in the Community Shield, Arne Slot admitted Hugo Ekitike was unable to play the full 90 minutes at this stage of the summer, but he didn't have any other number nine options to bring on in his place. Instead, Florian Wirtz and Dominik Szoboszlai were deployed as a front two.
"We just lost Darwin and we lost Lucho," Van Dijk said on talkSPORT. "There's always room for an attacker in order to strengthen us so let's see what the window brings."
Nunez moved to Al Hilal for a fee of $62 million (£46 million) plus add-ons. Luis Diaz, meanwhile, joined Bayern Munich at the end of last month in a move that could be worth up to $88 million (£66 million) in total.
Ekitike cost a substantial $106 million (£79 million) to bring in from Eintracht Frankfurt but he is one of only four senior attackers on Liverpool's books at the moment, one of which is Federico Chiesa.
Chiesa barely played last season and wasn't trusted by Arne Slot until after the Premier League title was confirmed. Rio Ngumoha has been a breakout pre-season star but he is only 16 and didn't come on at Wembley.
"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.
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"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."
If one of Ekitike, Mohamed Salah or Cody Gakpo was to get injured, Liverpool would suddenly look very light of attacking numbers. That is why the Reds are still interested in Alexander Isak.
It remains to be seen whether Newcastle can be convinced to sell Isak. However, it would need to get a couple of additions over the line first to pave the way.
Liverpool.com says: The Reds simply cannot afford to be light in attack. Why did Liverpool beat Arsenal to the title last year? Because it was substantially better in the final third. That needs to remain the case.
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