Cody Gakpo and Darwin Núñez showed what they can do in Liverpool’s 7-0 win over Manchester United last weekend and Jürgen Klopp believes his current crop of forwards have the talent to replace Sadio Mané and Roberto Firmino.
Liverpool travel to Bournemouth for the Saturday lunchtime kick-off, looking to build on their historic win over United in which Gakpo and Núñez scored two each playing alongside Mohamed Salah. In the reverse fixture against Bournemouth in August, Klopp’s side won 9-0. Another victory would take Liverpool into the top four, at least briefly depending on Tottenham’s result at home against Nottingham Forest.
Klopp said of the Mané, Salah and Firmino forward line that helped Liverpool win their first title of the Premier League era in 2019-20: “It is outstanding and it is not possible to replicate because it was a special relationship footballing-wise and it worked out very well. The challenge for us with all the changes we have made now and over the next years is to replace a sensational player or formation or whatever.
“I really think the boys we have brought in really have their own specific skill set and we have to adapt as a team slightly: the way we play, the way we set it up, these kinds of things. But they all have the potential to be really outstanding and that’s why we brought them in.
“The boys are ready to push themselves to wherever; nobody knows [where] that is in this moment but they are young, they have a lot of football years to come and we will see. My job is to make sure we put them into the right positions, we play the right system for them in the right way and then the boys can do what they do best.”
Klopp said he was surprised by Firmino’s decision to leave in the summer when his contract expires. “He told me and then the only other thing he said is: ‘Now I want to bring this wonderful story to a positive end.’”
