Liverpool Should Target Saido Berahino to Solve Their Attacking Problems

Brendan Rodgers has much to ponder at the moment. As if Sunday’s lawless win over Queens Park Rangers didn’t pose enough questions of Liverpool’s true credentials this season, now they face Real Madrid in the Champions League.

It’s the kind of schedule the Anfield club have aspired to since losing their seat at the top table of European football back in 2009, but Liverpool now find themselves stretched thinly across domestic and continental duties. Wednesday’s game against the Galacticos will be a benchmark for the Reds.

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Thus Rodgers probably spent his Monday night poring over ProZone tapes of Real Madrid’s recent performances, searching for any kind of weakness or anomaly in charts and graphs. But perhaps he should have watched West Brom’s 2-2 draw with Manchester United instead. More specifically, maybe he should have been keeping an eye on Saido Berahino.

The 21-year-old striker was too much for United to handle. His energy and pace exposed Louis van Gaal’s side’s gaping flaws at the back, capping his whirlwind performance with a well-taken goal after a run in behind the opposition defence.

Such a display must have Rodgers thinking. Berahino is the kind of player Liverpool are desperately lacking post-Luis Suarez, particularly with Daniel Sturridge ruled out through injury for the foreseeable future. They should make a move for him in January. 

The transition for Liverpool following the sale of Suarez to Barcelona has been more difficult than anyone could have imagined. It’s entirely natural that having lost a player of such ability there should be an impact, but it’s almost as if the Reds are struggling for an identity without the Uruguayan.

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That struggle has been accentuated by the loss of Sturridge to a calf injury, with the indifferent form of summer signing Mario Balotelli also contributing to what has been a disappointing start to the season.

It’s not just that Balotelli isn't up to the standard of Suarez (because so few are). It’s that his style and manner as a football player is at odds with everything Rodgers professes at Liverpool.

As much was abundantly clear at Loftus Road on Sunday. On several occasions Balotelli was guilty of taking the ball into his feet as his teammates surged past him, only to ignore them by taking too long to make his decision or shooting at goal.

If the Italian striker is to succeed at Anfield, he must adapt to Rodgers’ philosophy and methods, and that would require a dramatic shift in attitude from the Premier League’s most notorious wild child.

Even after his departure, Liverpool are still a side built to play to Suarez’s strengths, and so they need to find those strengths in another striker. Berahino would be that striker.

The England U21 international is a willing runner when it comes to chasing balls into the channels and is a general hub of activity across the front line, just in the way Suarez was.

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Perhaps most importantly, he has a cutting edge, having scored 10 times for club and country so far this season. Berahino might not possess that wriggly, slippery quality that Suarez has, but from a stylistic and tactical perspective there are similarities between the two.

His signing would also continue Liverpool’s recent transfer policy of attracting the best homegrown players. Rodgers has an impressive track record when it comes to identifying young, British talent and nurturing it. It was a quality that served the Northern Irishman well at Swansea and has continued to do so at Liverpool.

Jon Flanagan, Jordan Henderson, Adam Lallana, Raheem Sterling and Sturridge form a distinctly native core to Liverpool’s squad under Rodgers, and so the capture of Berahino would continue such a recent pattern for the Anfield club.

Only eight games of the new Premier League season have been played, but Rodgers must make pre-emptive plans to solve the burgeoning problems his Liverpool side is suffering. Berahino should be part of those plans.