Should he stay or should he go?

Every Liverpool fan would have been overjoyed almost as much as the man himself to see him come back in January. Since he left though, times have changed. We now have the best manager we've had in a generation and he is making significant progress to getting us back to where we should be. Other teams have moved on too of course, and that elusive title may therefore still be some way off.

With the exception of the last few games, our forwards have been the one area of weakness this season. There isn't one prolific goal scorer on our books at the moment and if we are to seriously challenge for the title next season, this is the area that has to change significantly.

The strikers most likely to keep their place in the first team squad next season are Peter Crouch and (if you can class him as a striker now) Luis Garcia. Fowler, Morientes and Cisse must all be wary of what the summer will bring. Perhaps all 3 of them will leave to free up spaces and cash for new signings.

There have been various strikers linked with Liverpool over the course of the season. Some of these rumours probably have no substance whatsoever but some of them may have some credibility as Rafa surely has an interest in some at the right price. Fernando Torres, Ronaldo (the good one), Jermain Defoe, Dirk Kuyt, Craig Bellamy, Michael Owen of course. These are just some of the many we've heard about.

If we signed 2 of these top strikers, with the addition of Crouch and Garcia there is very little chance that (bar injuries) Fowler would get a game. Let's face it Fernando Torres and Michael Owen are unlikely to be dropped for Fowler. However 2 of these strikers will set us back around £20-£25M. Is Rafa prepared to blow this kind of money just on the strike force? It's likely therefore that we may only get one World Class striker and another lesser known or lesser proven one that Rafa believes will come good.

In this latter scenario, it leaves a space for one of our 3 other strikers (Fowler, Morientes and Cisse) to stay for at least 1 more season. Out of the 3 of them in those circumstances I would go for Fowler for the following reasons:

Despite being the oldest of the 3 he is clearly the best finisher, scoring some good goals from the opportunities he has had.

His attitude and desire to play for the club are without question. If he was offered double his salary by another club this summer, he'd surely turn it down to stay at Liverpool. How many players could say that?

Fowler knows he won't play every week and though he would like to, would probably settle for a bit part role.

Morientes and Cisse have had a reasonable time to prove their worth. The only way they are likely to improve is to be given 20 consecutive games to improve their sharpness and finishing respectively. We can't afford to give them this kind of run in the first team as there is the very real possibility that they will still fall short of the mark. Our first choice strikers need to be of a higher standard than either Morientes or Cisse are likely to reach.


So, unless we have two world class strikers next year to partner Crouch and Garcia, we need to keep one other to fill in where required. So, Rafa, it's up to you. Give us Torres and Owen or Ronaldo and Defoe and we'll reluctantly agree to bid farewell to Robbie again. Otherwise pass him the pen.