Swansea City have made a decent start to the season under new manager Graham Potter, currently placed 11th in the Championship table.
Swansea, under Potter, have played some eye-catching football and they must be aiming to extend their winning run to gain some ground on the teams placed above them. Things are looking promising for the Swans and they could mount a significant promotion push this season.
However, the manager is still a couple of signings short to realistically challenge for promotion at the first time of asking. He has good quality in every department of his squad but Swansea lack depth in the attacking area.
Oli McBurnie is the sole striker and he has been shouldering the burden of scoring goals week in and week out. Other than McBurnie, Potter lacks a quality centre-forward who can be trusted to share the goalscoring burden. Keeping that in mind, Swansea must target Liverpool striker Dominic Solanke in January.
Solanke, 21, was snapped up by Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp after he left Chelsea on a free transfer last summer. While the centre-forward made 27 appearances in all competitions in the last campaign, he is finding opportunities at a premium and is yet to feature for Liverpool this season. To make matters worse, Daniel Sturridge has moved ahead of him in the pecking order.
A number of Liverpool youngsters left on season-long loan deals in the summer in search of regular senior football, including the likes of Harry Wilson, Ben Woodburn, Marko Grujic and Ovie Ejaria. Solanke should have followed suit and done the same but he could leave the club temporarily in the upcoming winter window.
Solanke’s chances of regular game time under Klopp look bleak this term and it looks like he needs to secure a loan deal to get adequate playing time. To that end, Swansea could do a top job with the 21-year-old’s quality for the second half of the season.
With Solanke yet to establish himself at Anfield, one might suggest that Swansea would be taking a gamble. But it could prove to be an inspired move as Solanke is more than capable of leading the line for Swansea. In fact, he is adept at creating and scoring off chances and is intelligent enough to create space for his teammates.
At 21, Solanke has lost his way a bit in his career but he can only fulfil his potential with sustained first-team football. And that will happen only if he decides to leave Anfield on loan in January.
