Liverpool are planning to make a bid for a £60million star who could be their next Jota

Liverpool remains at the top of the Premier League table, although his upside doesn’t look as healthy as it did a week or so ago.

Saturday, after falling behind by 11 minutes, and then see Andy Robertson sent off not long after, the Reds did very well to hang on Fulham to a 2-2 draw at Anfield, equalizing twice in front of the Kop, with Cody Gakpo and Diogo Jota the scorers

This is only the fourth time in a competition that Liverpool have not won a game since then Arne SlottThe arrival on Merseyside, however, means they are now just two points behind in-form Chelsea, albeit with a game in hand.

So, as the Reds go in search of a 20th English top-flight title in 2025, could the addition of another striker help them get over the line?

Liverpool is preparing the bid for the new striker

according to a Caught Offside reportLiverpool as well as both arsenal i Manchester Citythey are all interested in signing the Brighton striker João Pedroreportedly set to go up to £54m.

The Brazilian began his career at Fluminense, after joining the Rio de Janeiro giants like a ten year oldbefore leaving for Watford in 2020, scoring 24 goals in 109 games for the Hornets.

Those stats are far from outstanding, but he certainly did enough to catch the eye of those on the south coast during his time in Hertfordshire as, in the summer of 2023, he moved to Brighton. for a club record £30m.

During his first season with the Seagulls, Pedro scored an impressive goal 20 goals in all competitionsincluding six out of six in the Europa Leaguethe club’s maiden trip to continental competition, notably that famous last-gasp winner when Olympique de Marseille visited Sussex, a strike that booked Brighton’s place in the last 16.

How much can Joao Pedro cost Liverpool

So far this campaign, Pedro’s impact has been limited an ankle injurywith just 43 minutes of Premier League action between August 31 and November 23, but he has still scored four timesgoals that have directly added seven points to the seagulls’ balance sheet.

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Having started five games in a row, Fabian Hürzeler clearly rates the Brazilian as an important player, which is why Brighton reportedly value him at around £60m according to the aforementioned report.

Brighton certainly know how to get a good fee for a player of high quality and demand: Moisés Caicedo (115 million pounds), Marc Cucurella (£62 million), Ben White (£50 million), Alexis McAllister (35 million pounds) and Yves Bissouma (25 million pounds) are recent examples over the past three years of the Seagulls’ strong bargaining power, with all of that quintet sold to the so-called ‘big six’ Premier League sides.

So if Pedro leaves the South Coast in 2025, you can bet your bottom dollar it will be for a sky-high fee.

How Joao Pedro would improve Liverpool’s forward line

Arne Slot already has a number of high-quality strikers at his disposal, ie Mohamed Salah, which is in ongoing contract negotiationsas well as Luis Díaz, Darwin Núñez, Gakpo, Jota and summer recruit Federico Chiesa, who has had little impact so far due to injury.

Described as a “crazy dripper” from data analyst Ben Mattinsonhow does pedro compare to the reds top five attacking options?

Well, playing in that hybrid role between being a centre-forward and a number 10, as Jota has done at Anfield, stacks up pretty well in comparison.

To no one’s surprise, Salah is top-ranked in virtually every attacking metric; you didn’t need a gigantic table full of numbers to tell you it’s good, did you?

However, compared to the other strikers, Pedro is on par with most, ranking best in goals at 90, despite having a higher xG figure than both Jota and Gakpo.

Slot have been cutting and changing their centre-forwards this season, especially since Jota suffered a rib injury against Chelsea in mid-October, with Diaz often getting the head of Núñez, most notably in the 4-0 demolition of Bayer Leverkusen, in which the Colombian bagged a second-half hat-trick.

Meanwhile, Gakpo has been deployed primarily in his preferred outside position, believing he is “more dangerous” in Slot, stating that the manager told him that the left “will be your position”, after they have deployed it mainly centrally Jurgen Klopp.

So with Jota having missed 59 games due to injury since the start of the 22/23 season, and Núñez has not lived up to the very high expectations set by his club record £85m price, having scored the Uruguayan only 36 goals in 116 outings Center forward remains a position of need so far and Pedro’s numbers suggest he could be a fantastic addition if the Reds are willing to pay a big fee for his services.

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