Jurgen Klopp could step into Liverpool unknown after £170m spree to find Sadio Mane replacement

Against the backdrop of Champions League final defeat, Liverpool fans’ heartbreak was compounded less than 24 hours later.

When news emerged that it looked likely Sadio Mane will depart the Reds this summer, it wasn’t a great shock.

Speculation about his future has been rife. With a year left on his deal and rumours of a potential switch to Bayern Munich swirling, it confirmed what many had expected.

Still, it didn’t stop supporters from being disappointed. It was tough to take.

Mane has been synonymous with Liverpool’s resurgence to the zenith of European football.

He was Jurgen Klopp’s first marquee signing in the summer of 2016. He helped the Reds qualify for the Champions League that season - which would attract Mo Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Alisson Becker and Fabinho among others to Anfield.

But after six years on Merseyside, winning every trophy possible, Mane now looks set for a new challenge.

Finding a replacement

Liverpool won’t allow Mane to depart without finding a replacement.

Not only would they lose a top-class talent but Klopp’s called his current squad the strongest it’s ever been. It’s why the Reds were able to challenge on four fronts this season.

Klopp will surely refuse his options being threadbare - especially with Divock Origi already leaving.

In truth, plenty of names are likely to be linked with a switch to Anfield to fill the void of Mane.

Many of them will be wingers given the Senegal international has spent the majority of his Reds career out wide.

But in the final few months of the season, Mane transformed himself into a centre-forward.

The arrival of Luis Diaz in January saw Mane move positions to instead spearhead the attack - and thrive.

After returning from helping his country to AFCON glory in February, Mane fired 13 goals in 23 appearances.

Uncharted territory

His positional change is why Klopp should consider stepping into uncharted territory when it comes to his Liverpool recruitment.

The one type of player Klopp has never signed at Anfield is a senior, out-and-out striker.

Granted, Liverpool’s firepower hasn’t been scant. Far from it. The Reds have run amok in more games than not in the past five years.

However, much has been made by the fact that in three finals this season, Liverpool failed to score despite triumphs in two of them.

In 330 minutes of football, they couldn’t find the back of the net.

A jack-in-the-box performance from Real Madrid‘s Thibaut Courtois was partly the reason in Saturday’s Champions League defeat.

Edouard Mendy pulled off some fine saves for Chelsea in both the FA Cup and Carabao Cup finals, too.

But a natural marksman, someone whose chief remit, right from youth level, has been to plunder goals, has eluded Klopp.

The ex-Borussia Dortmund supremo has spent circa £170 million on attacking players in his seven-year tenure. The fees paid for Mane (£34 million) and Mo Salah (£37 million) have proven to be bargains.

Diogo Jota’s primarily played centrally since arriving in the summer of 2020 for £41 million and adapted seamlessly. However, he’d made his name on the left flank for Wolves.

Xherdan Shaqiri (£13.5 million) was blessed with versatility but was a far cry from a number nine given his diminutive stature.

Takumi Minamino (£7.25 million) proved Liverpool’s top scorer on the road to FA Cup and Carabao Cup glory this season but is a bit-part player.

And since arriving for £37.5 million from Porto, Diaz has displayed he’s best out wide given his raw attributes.

Meanwhile, Roberto Firmino has slipped down the pecking order, having been part of the exhilarating front three that yielded the Champions League and Premier League in 2019 and 2020 respectively.

But fans are only too aware that, for all of his guile and craft, the Brazilian was converted into a false number nine after being inherited by Klopp.

Firmino has reached the 20-goal barrier only once.

The sole example

It may come as a surprise that the only natural striker Klopp signed at Liverpool is Dominic Solanke.

He was prised from Chelsea in the summer of 2017 after his contract expired, with the two clubs eventually agreeing on a compensation fee.

At the time, Solanke was a fresh-faced 19-year-old who’d made just one substitute appearance for the Stamford Bridge side.

Solanke was recruited with a look to the future rather than the present.

Yet he managed just one goal in 27 appearances before being sold two years later when the Reds couldn’t turn down a £19 million bid from Bournemouth.

Solanke remains the anomaly when it comes to Klopp recruiting natural centre-forwards. Although Origi has earned cult status on Merseyside, he, like Firmino, was at Liverpool when Klopp took over.

Christian Benteke and Mario Balotelli were quickly deemed surplus to requirements and both left less than a year into Klopp's incumbency.

Taiwo Awoniyi, meanwhile, had several loan spells at the likes of Mainz and Union Berlin before making a permanent switch to the latter last summer. He scored 20 goals in all competitions this season.

Granted, quintessential centre-forwards are somewhat of a dying breed in the modern game. If you want one, they come at a premium.

But it could prove worthwhile rather than replacing Mane with someone of a similar ilk.