Quite a lot of Liverpool fans were lamenting the sale of Danny Ings on Tuesday.
And you can see why.
The 28-year-old hitman scored twice on his return from a hamstring injury to help Southampton beat Crystal Palace 3-1.
In doing so, Ings now has 12 Premier League goals this season and for context, Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino only has 15 in his last 70 games for the Reds in this competition.
This is a player who Jurgen Klopp sold to the Saints in a £20 million deal [BBC Sport] a few years ago and with the German’s side languishing sixth in the table now, with their top-four hopes severely dented by Leicester City’s win last night, it makes you wonder if Ings is exactly the type of goalscorer Klopp has lacked.
Another Liverpool boss in the form of Roy Hodgson certainly conceded that he was the difference for Southampton last night.
The Palace boss told Sky Sports after the game: “The ball touches in behind for Danny Ings. That’s what cost us. Ings who hasn’t playing for a while comes back and does what Ings does and that’s take goal chances.”
Is Ings a better footballer than Firmino? Nope, but he is a better goalscorer.
The former Burnley marksman has 41 Premier League goals since joining the Saints, while the Brazil international only has 27 in the same time – despite playing a lot more games.
Hindsight is 20-20 and you can’t blame Liverpool for selling Ings, especially considering that he wanted to go for the sake of first-team football.
But following a horrendous Premier League title defence, and the potential of dropping into the Europa League, a player like Ings may well be on Klopp’s shopping list this summer.
A clinical goalscorer was the difference between one point and three for Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side last night and Klopp will know how important these sort of number nines really are.
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