Gordon transfer, Isak bid, Williams £49m steal - Liverpool new season forward line predicted

Liverpool are anticipated to be in the market for an attacker again this summer after prioritising their midfield rebuild 12 months ago to great success.

Cody Gakpo is the last forward the club signed - arriving months after they moved for Darwin Nunez - and the frontline again needs addressing as uncertainly swirls around several of their options up front. Mohamed Salah will almost certainly stay despite the constant rumours about his future, and there is a comparable amount of noise about Luis Diaz as the Colombia international is away in the United States representing his country at the Copa America.

Here, ECHO writers have their say about who the Reds should target to improve their forward line ahead of the upcoming season.

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Joe Rimmer

Liverpool will target a new forward this summer regardless of whether Mohamed Salah leaves the club, which is highly unlikely.

And the Reds could do worse than bringing a hometown boy back to Merseyside.

Anthony Gordon might not be seeing much game time in the Euros but fresh from a brilliant season at Newcastle, links with Liverpool make sense.

The former Everton prodigy can operate on either win, is a relentless worker and his direct running would give the Reds something they lack in Diogo Jota and Salah. You could easily see Gordon's output rising at Anfield with better service around him and he'd take very little time, if any, to settle.

He'd cost a lot - but Gordon did follow Liverpool as a youngster and the allure of playing for Liverpool could prove too much.

Richard Garnett

Liverpool scored a solid 86 Premier League goals last season, but that was still 10 fewer than champions Manchester City and five behind runners-up Arsenal. Arne Slot has inherited no shortage of top attacking options at Anfield but the number of chances that were squandered - particularly towards the end of the season - suggests that a bit of shakeup wouldn't go amiss.

Newcastle United were the fourth-highest scorers in the Premier League campaign just gone and whereas Joe has bigged up Anthony Gordon for a controversial return to Merseyside, it is his attacking teammate Alexander Isak who interests me.

The Magpies paid around £60m to acquire the Swede's services in the summer of 2022, just two months after Darwin Nunez completed a switch to the Reds for a slightly larger sum plus add-ons. The two players have similar goal returns over the past two seasons, but Isak has scored 11 more in the league than Nunez and in 13 less matches.

Both strikers are 24-years-old, but in my opinion, Isak is a far more polished player with the type of game intelligence Liverpool fans traditionally appreciate. Nunez has been afforded plenty of patience by supporters and Klopp, but I'm afraid mine wore thin a long time ago. The likelihood is that Slot will want to have a look at the Uruguayan and see if he can get a decent tune out of him before making a decision, but I can save him the bother. Get Isak in to replace Nunez and watch him go.

Jack Flintham

Thursday night's victory for Spain against Italy convinced me that Nico Williams would be an essential transfer target this summer. The winger seems to have everything - pace, power, an eye for an assist and he is an all-round handful for the opposition.

At £49m he would be an absolute steal and the only problem will be whether he could be convinced to move to the Premier League especially considering he is believed to be harbouring a desire to move to Barcelona. If I was Arne Slot, I would also be looking to add a centre-forward to the team this summer.

Darwin Nunez still has a lot to prove and some competition at the top of the pitch is unlikely to do any harm. He is not currently on the radar but Lille's Jonathan David could be a wise move.

Like Williams, he would be relatively inexpensive and has a track record of goalscoring with 26 alone last season.

Isaac Seelochan

Nico Williams has been talked about for some time with Aston Villa heavily linked last summer before he opted to stay at Athletic Bilbao.

It does feel like he will be on the move this summer though and Liverpool may be the perfect destination. The 21-year-old possesses the perfect blend of skill and pace which terrifies defences.

The Reds are likely to face competition from Premier League rivals for his signature but it is hard to see how he would fit into Man City or Arsenal's team for example. With Liverpool needing to reinvigorate their attack this summer, a move for Williams feels like a no-brainer.

Matt Abbott

It is 18 months since Liverpool last signed a forward when they moved early to secure Cody Gakpo before last year's January transfer window even opened on the back of an impressive World Cup with the Netherlands. The Reds paid PSV Eindhoven £40m following that tournament and now must strike a similar deal with the Dutch champions next month after the European Championship ends to land Johan Bakayoko.

Both impressed in the Eredivisie and played 12 times together while PSV players, but his former teammate has kicked on in Eindhoven since Gakpo moved on. Bakayoko scored 14 goals and added as many assists in almost 50 appearances for PSV last season to secure a spot in the Belgium squad.

Arne Slot got the best out of Yankuba Minteh in Rotterdam last year and will surely back himself to do the same with Bakayoko. After all, the new Liverpool head coach knows the winger well, with one of his 14 assists coming at De Kuip in March during a 2-1 win for the visitors from Eindhoven.