Liverpool's Hugo Ekitike is facing nine months on the sidelines with a ruptured Achilles. His contract at Barcelona expires in June. Former Liverpool star Joe Cole says the Reds should go and get him. The Lewandowski-to-Liverpool conversation is suddenly very real.
Arne Slot had a plan for Liverpool's attack. It involved Alexander Isak holding the line and Hugo Ekitike providing dynamism, pace and goals from either a wide or central role. It was working. Then came the injury — a ruptured Achilles tendon sustained in the Champions League clash against PSG — and suddenly Liverpool's attacking depth looks a lot thinner than anyone would like heading into the summer.
Ekitike is out until at least early 2027. That's nine months gone. For a club still competing in the Premier League and preparing for what they hope will be a deep Champions League run next season, that's a serious problem to solve.
Enter Lewandowski
Robert Lewandowski's Barcelona contract expires in June 2026. He's 37 — old enough that even the most die-hard admirers acknowledge his best years are behind him, but young enough that his record still demands respect. The Pole has scored goals at virtually every level of the game for the better part of two decades. He still has something left.
Joe Cole, the former Chelsea and Liverpool midfielder turned pundit, has urged Slot to consider a shock summer move. The argument is straightforward: you can't sign someone at the peak of their career to compete with Isak and eventually Ekitike, but a veteran who knows the game deeply, can lead the line intelligently and will arrive on a free transfer? That's a different kind of proposition.
Cole's suggestion is that Lewandowski might "fancy the challenge" — a new country, a new league, one last big stage. And if he's leaving Barcelona anyway, a free transfer to a Champions League club with serious resources and a manager who knows how to use a technical centre-forward is not a bad landing.
The case for and against
The case for is obvious. Free transfer. Pedigree unlike almost any striker alive. Knows how to win. Would be a short-term measure that doesn't block Liverpool's longer-term planning. If Ekitike returns fit in early 2027 and you've also still got Isak, the logjam solves itself naturally.
The case against is equally clear. He's 37. The Premier League at that age is brutal — it's a physical league that has chewed up and spat out plenty of technically gifted European forwards who couldn't handle the pace. There's also the question of whether Lewandowski, at this stage of his career, is willing to come in as a squad player rather than a starter. His ego may not quite be ready for that conversation.
And then there's the wages. Free transfer doesn't mean free player. A striker of Lewandowski's standing, even at 37, will command significant money on his terms. Liverpool would need to weigh that against other summer priorities.
What Liverpool actually needs
What Slot really wants is a young, high-potential forward who can develop in the system and take over as the primary option behind Isak in the medium term. That's a longer recruitment project, and it probably requires European football as a selling point — which Liverpool should have next season regardless of this one's outcome.
The Lewandowski idea is a sticking plaster, not a solution. But sometimes a sticking plaster is exactly what you need for nine months while the actual wound heals. With Ekitike gone until 2027, Liverpool can't afford to start next season thin upfront and hope for the best.
Joe Cole's suggestion might raise a few eyebrows, but it's not as wild as it sounds. Slot is clearly thinking about it. Whether Lewandowski wants it is a different question entirely.
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