Former Scotland international turned pundit Craig Burley reckons Liverpool would be missing a trick by not offering fee agent Zlatan Ibrahimovic a short-term contract until the end of the season.
The Swede, undeniably one of the best players of his generation, is a free agent having left LA Galaxy recently – and Jurgen Klopp recently joked that he would snap the forward up if he hadn’t have previously played for Manchester United [Star].
Burley though has slammed Divock Origi, our current first-choice backup to Roberto Firmino and suggested Ibra would do a better job.
“We laughed when we talked about if Jurgen Klopp had been asked about him,” Burley explained on ESPN FC . “But this is something I genuinely believe can work short-term.
“I know he doesn’t fit their style, with the pressing style and all that.
“But they have nobody else, literally nobody else, other than Roberto Firmino [in a central attacking role].
“Please don’t talk to me about Divock Origi, you’re talking about Liverpool trying to get over the line in the Premier League for the first time in 20-odd years. Sometimes you need something different.
“We’re talking about a guy who may only be coming off the bench now and again for 20 minutes or half an hour, and just bringing something different, that bit of quality.
“Nobody is asking him to run around or close teams down in the first half of a game.
“But I think he can really offer something to a team like that for six months towards the end of the season. I don’t suggest it’ll happen, but it would work.”
Ibrahimovic is 38-years-old, and as Burley suggests, is not set out for the high intensity football Jurgen Klopp demands from all eleven Reds on the field.
Origi has done well this term already and suits the role of impact sub, as his many important late goals prove.
Ibra and his enormous ego could potentially damage our excellent squad harmony – especially considering the multiple outrageous statements he makes about how he’s better than his team-mates – something that wouldn’t fit well with Klopp’s humble group.
It’s a fantasy idea, and not something we should or will seriously consider.