Liverpool FC are targeting Borussia Dortmund’s Ciro Immobile in the summer.
German newspaper Bild ( sourced from Football Italia) reported that Dortmund would let Immobile go in the summer if they receive a bid of at least a 15 million and latest reports doing rounds claim Liverpool want the player to be added to their strikeforce which looks to actually get goals next season. It is certain that at least three, if not all, of Mario Balotelli, Rickie Lambert, Fabio Borini and Iago Aspas will be shipped off in the summer and apparently Brendan Rodgers views Immobile as the player who could come and provide real firepower to the Reds squad.
Journalist Gianluca Di Marzio reports, a Ciro Immobile could be leaving Germany for England. Liverpool are interested in the Italian striker, the Reds have contacted Borussia Dortmunda s director (Michael) Zorc. Immobile could replace Balotelli at Anfield since Super Mario is set to leave Rodgersa club. After leaving Italy last summer, Immobile could be heading to England a Liverpool is taking concrete steps to acquire him.a
The Italian joined the German team last summer and was expected to make a wonderful impact and be the ideal replacement for the departing Robert Lewandwoski. After all, the 25-year old scored 22 goals, which made him Serie A’s top scorer for the season, along with grabbing 3 assists for Torino the season before. However, things haven’t gone exactly to plan for the Italy international.
In an underwhelming start to life in Germany, Immobile only has 3 goals and 1 assist in 19 appearances in the league for Klopp’s team (10 of them coming from the bench). In the prolific season before, Immobile was registering 3.1 shots per game. That has gone down by almost half as the player only has 1.9 shots per game (average, of course) in the league this season.
Whether he will be an upgrade on Mario Balotelli, who has one goal in the Premier League in 14 appearances (6 of them coming from the bench), is not certain. The controversial Italian who Immobile is reportedly going to replace has registered more shots per game in the league (3.5) and in all competitions (3.3), as opposed to the 25 year old who has 1.9 and 2.2 respectively.
Immobile has found his going tough and many had predicted beforehand that this could occur. The pressure to replace Lewandowski, who had become a big part of Dortmund’s recent success was going to be a lot. The two strikers differ a lot in style so it was going to be tough for the team and manager to mould the team around Immobile and sure enough, after he didn’t start delivering consistently, he was dropped to the bench and has only made cameo appearances.
However, The fact that he was adjusting to a new setting, country and league cannot be overlooked. A lot of players take time to settle and get better in the second season. While the same could be argued for Balotelli at Liverpool, Immobile will prove to be a better option for Brendan Rodgers as he will be better suited to the style of the Reds. Rodgers likes his side to play swift, pressing, high-energy football and the former Torino player will be a better fit for that, than Mario Balotelli and Rickie Lambert for that matter.
But it can’t be overstated that if Liverpool are looking to get back among the trophies and consistently finishing in the top 4, they need to look for options who have had a better season. The major reason for Liverpool not doing the same this season is the lack of goals and Brendan Rodgers simply can’t afford another misfiring striker