Abu Dhabi: Kevin Keegan, the legendary former Liverpool striker, insists the Reds can achieve a coveted top-four Premier League finish next season but “need a centre-forward” in order to secure Champions League football.
Liverpool bolstered their forward ranks with the signing of Sadio Mane from Southampton for 34 million pounds (Dh162 million) last month and also have Christian Benteke, Divock Origi, Daniel Sturridge and Mario Balotelli as striker options.
But Benteke and Balotelli are likely to be offloaded by boss Jurgen Klopp this summer and Keegan thinks a proven replacement is essential if the Reds are to challenge in the Premier after finishing eighth last season.
“I’ve said to all Liverpool supporters that I speak to that I’d pretty much guarantee top four,” Keegan, who won nine major honours with Liverpool between 1971 and 1977, told Gulf News.
“They’re another team that need a centre forward. They’ve got about three or four, but none of them have been quite the answer so far.”
Keegan, who is a pundit on beIN Sports’ exclusive television coverage of the Premier League in the Mena region, also tipped another of his former clubs, Newcastle United, for an immediate return to the English top flight next season.
Newcastle suffered relegation to the Championship last season, despite the esteemed former Liverpool and Real Madrid coach Rafa Benitez joining them in March.
Keegan, who managed Newcastle between 1992 and 1997 after a previous playing spell with the Geordies, warned the Spaniard that he would find life in England’s second tier “very, very difficult”.
But he expects Benitez’s “great experience”, a squad “with more than enough to cope” and “intimidating” home support to ensure they will negotiate this challenge successfully.
