With Divock Origi out of contract this summer, it’s possible Liverpool will be looking to acquire a forward who won’t mind if they don’t feature as often as the Reds’ more illustrious forwards.
The obvious strategy would be to sign a young player who can learn from the world class players at the club and continue to develop over the next year or two.
Whether this is Liverpool’s plan or not, they have been linked with Czech striker Adam Hlozek and not for the first time.
The 19-year-old was reported to be of interest to the Reds around 12 months ago, though obviously nothing came of the speculation at the time.
However, French football outlet Jeunes Footeux have raised the possibility that Hlozek could be bound for Anfield this summer.
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As the Sparta Prague forward has stated a preference for the Bundesliga and has supposedly drawn admiring glances from Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, Liverpool may need to look elsewhere.
The young Czech international would certainly make for an interesting signing though.
Unfortunately for Hlozek, Sparta Prague were knocked out of the Europa Conference League recently, so he won’t gain any further European experience this season, but he did score in two of his last three games in continental competition.
In Sparta’s final Europa League match in December, a 2-0 win over Brondby, Hlozek scored a great finisher’s goal.
Seizing on a loose ball after Jakub Pesek’s shot had been saved, the reported Liverpool target fired home from an acute angle despite being surrounded and there being two defenders close to the goal line.
He then found the net in a 2-1 defeat at Partizan Belgrade with the type of goal the Reds have specialised in this season.
A header from a corner was directed into the six-yard box, and Hlozek was the first to react, poking the ball into the roof of the net.
Only seven of Liverpool’s 24 set piece goals so far this season have been assisted directly from the corner or free-kick. Staying alive for the second ball has proved vital.
With data largely unavailable for the Czech league, we can use Sparta Prague’s forays into Europe to look at some detailed numbers for Hlozek (albeit from a limited sample size).
While not at ‘pressing monster’ Diogo Jota’s level, with an average of 14.3 pressures per 90, the 19-year-old closes down opponents roughly as often as Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah (both 13.4) have in the Premier League this season.
Hlozek - valued at £16m - also looks to have the versatility required to fill-in anywhere across the Reds’ front three.
While most productive as a centre-forward – with 17 goals and 14 assists from 39 appearances there – he has also played 39 times as a left winger and has 21 games on the opposite flank ( per Transfermarkt ).
If Liverpool are intending to buy a talented young player to provide cover, finding someone able to do so in multiple positions would be no bad thing.
Although we have to be realistic about the standard of the Czech league – which is only the 16 th best in Europe as per UEFA’s coefficient – Hlozek is clearly the dominant player there.
He was top for combined goals and assists last season, with 22, and is once again in 2021/22 with 16.
It’s interesting that he scored more than he created last season and has switched this time around but that could just be random variation rather than a change in his style.
Perhaps it would be unwise to dismiss these achievements too easily. Greece is only the 15 th best UEFA league and Kostas Tsimikas has made some impressive contributions for the Reds this season, after all.
And while Hlozek might not dislodge the current forwards from Jurgen Klopp’s side in the short term, the idea of him improving under the Liverpool manager’s tutelage is an enticing prospect.
