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Liverpool have had some bitterly bad luck with their new signing this season. An ACL injury ended Giovanni Leoni's debut campaign at Anfield after only 81 minutes, Alexander Isak broke his leg and missed 22 matches and now Hugo Ekitike, their top goalscorer, is sidelined until 2027 with a torn Achilles. He could be out for 12 months.

It is a cruel blow for the Reds when Isak still looks undercooked after only just returning from his own spell out. Arne Slot has a headache navigating the final six Premier League matches of the season. And it casts new questions over Liverpool's decision not to move for Antoine Semenyo in January. The Reds needed a winger who offers the dynamism, and goalscoring ability, of Semenyo even before Ekitike got injured. Now that the Frenchman is likely to miss most, if not all, of the 2026-27 season makes it even more frustrating for the Reds.

With Mohamed Salah leaving, Federico Chiesa expected to move on and Ekitike injured, as it stands, Liverpool's three options in the final third next season are the injury-prone Isak, Cody Gakpo and teenager Rio Ngumoha.

Semenyo surely would have been perfect. Or near perfect anyway, if you consider how Liverpool need more homegrown players. He was the right age profile; only recently turning 26, has ample Premier League experience, can play anywhere across the front line, is two-footed, fast, strong, unpredictable and works hard off the ball.

He is the type of ball-carrier out wide Liverpool sorely lack. They are desperately craving wide-men with the ability to beat their man. It is part of the reason why Ngumoha looks such a revelation each time he plays, despite being so young.

And to add to all of that, he was going at a reasonable price. City paid £62.5million rising to £64m with possible add-ons. He is reported to earn £150,000 a week at the Etihad - a salary that would have been ideal for Liverpool's pay scale. None of those amounts are extreme in this market.

Unsurprisingly, he has been excellent for City, with eight goals and three assists in 19 appearances. Overall for the season he has 18G and 6A in 40 games. The most goal contributions any Liverpool player has this season is Ekitike's 23 (17G, 6A).

It all begs the question - given the Reds were known admirers - why did they not make a move? Fenway Sports Group and the club's recruitment team now have to scour the market for alternatives. But it is difficult to escape the feeling they missed an absolute gem in Semenyo, especially given how much he would help right now in the absence of Ekitike.

He had all the hallmarks of being another Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah-esque signing - a player who could come in and elevate their game exponentially. Sadly for FSG, he'll do that at City instead, and will likely deliver multiple major trophies. He's already won one.

The Ekitike news means the Liverpool manager, whoever that is when the transfer market opens, now needs an absolute minimum of two new wide forwards for next season. One who can play centrally, like Semenyo, would be ideal. Anthony Gordon fits that bill and is a player Liverpool are known to like.

A player who can facilitate Isak, as Jacob Murphy did at Newcastle, would also be handy. Hoffenheim's 20-year-old Ivorian Bazoumana Toure might be that man. And his international team-mate Yan Diomande looks a future superstar if Liverpool are willing to pay Red Bull the big bucks.

Gordon, Toure and Diomande could cost Liverpool near £200m alone. If they arrive, FSG have to hope they become as productive as Semenyo, or they will always rue letting the Ghanaian go to one of their biggest rivals.