Two stars now battling to be Liverpool's new striker

Two starts are hashing it out to be Liverpool’s new striker this season. But who will Andoni Iraola pick?

Liverpool are unfortunately light at centre-forward, despite spending over £200m on the role last summer. Injuries are the problem, naturally.

Alexander Isak endured an incredibly difficult debut campaign at Anfield where he struggled to find fitness before breaking his leg. It meant we never saw anything like the best of Liverpool’s record signing and it’s difficult to know what to expect in 2026/27.

A pre-season under his belt will surely help Isak enormously and perhaps fix all the problems. But it’s still difficult to believe that Liverpool can entirely rely on him next season.

Which is a problem because Hugo Ekitike will miss around half the season at least. His achilles injury keeps him out long-term and, worryingly, we won’t know what state he’ll be in when he’s back.

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These are nasty injuries and it’ll be a while before Ekitike can play his natural game. Which again piles more pressure on Isak.

So what to do? Well, Liverpool are understandably hesitant to sign a new striker. Anyone who came in would be for around six months of football before Ekitike returns and the club don’t need him any more.

The likely fix is to bank on a squad player until at least January and there are two clear options after Saturday. Liverpool beat Sunderland 4-2 in Nashville, with Federico Chiesa and Lewis Koumas playing up top in the second half.

Both scored, too, and good goals at that. It’s a hint that Andoni Iraola views them as possible forwards this season – and if they impress, we imagine they’ll be trusted with a covering role this season.

Again, it would only be for six months at first – or at least until Ekitike returns. But they’re each unquestionably in the best position to take on ruch a role.

One of them, anyway. This should become something of a battle as they each try to prove they’re better-suited than the other – experience vs potential, essentially.

And who Iraola eventually picks is anyone’s guess.