Liverpool's Right-Wing Puzzle: Iraola's Strategy with Barcola and Gakpo

Mohamed Salah is gone. His 257 goals have left a crater on Liverpool’s right flank, and the club’s record signing doesn’t even really want that side of the pitch.

Bradley Barcola arrived on Merseyside as the headline act of the summer, prised away from Paris Saint-Germain in a £123 million deal. A Champions League winner, a France international, a statement signing. But like Cody Gakpo, Rio Ngumoha and Victor Munoz, his instincts drag him to the left.

Andoni Iraola, then, has a puzzle on his hands. Four wide forwards. All happier starting on the same side. No orthodox heir to Salah in sight.

A lopsided squad, by design

Liverpool did look for one.

Yankuba Minteh at Brighton. Ismaila Sarr at Crystal Palace. Both natural right-sided forwards, both seriously considered, with bids lodged. Both ultimately out of reach as negotiations with domestic rivals hit a wall.

At that point, Liverpool could have panicked. They didn’t.

Instead of diving into options C, D or E, the club chose to sit tight, trust the dressing room, and circle back in January. The decision left the squad slightly skewed on paper, but it was deliberate.

Former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy, speaking to GOAL courtesy of Snabbare, sees the logic.

He pointed out that the club clearly recognised the issue by going after Minteh and Sarr, but resisted the urge to buy just for the sake of it. In his view, if you already have “talented, intelligent footballers” who can operate on that side, you don’t force a signing that doesn’t quite fit the criteria.

Murphy has seen Barcola play off the right. He believes Gakpo has the intelligence to adapt there and still deliver goals, noting that the Dutchman has already produced from that channel – including a “great assist” against Nottingham Forest from the right.

So when Minteh and Sarr couldn’t be prised away, Liverpool’s hierarchy effectively said: we wait. No ransom fees. No overpaying out of desperation in a window where they had already spent heavily.

Would an out-and-out right winger have been ideal? Murphy agrees it would. But does he think Iraola has enough for now with Munoz showing flashes on that side, Gakpo’s versatility and Barcola’s flexibility?

“I think they’ve got enough,” he said.

Gakpo’s burst, Isak’s finish, and a quiet vindication

The early weeks of the 2026-27 season have turned the theory into practice.

Gakpo, Ngumoha, Munoz and Barcola have all taken turns patrolling the right. It hasn’t always looked natural, but it has looked dangerous.

The clearest example came at Bournemouth. Gakpo picked up the ball on the right touchline, drove hard down the flank and whipped in a low cross that unsettled the defence. Alexander Isak did the rest, turning that moment of direct wing play into Liverpool’s winning goal.

That sequence summed up Iraola’s gamble. No Salah. No shiny, made-to-measure replacement. Just intelligent forwards asked to stretch their games and a manager willing to lean into their adaptability.

The results speak loudly enough for now. Across the Premier League, Champions League and Carabao Cup, Liverpool remain unbeaten this season. The absence of a “new Salah” has not yet become a crisis, or even much of a talking point inside the dressing room.

January questions, but no panic

The story isn’t finished, of course.

Interest in Minteh and Sarr could easily be revived in early 2027 or next summer. Both players are understood to be keen on Anfield. Both still fit the profile Liverpool initially chased.

But the club’s stance is clear: they will not be dragged into overpaying just to tick a positional box. The right-sided role, once Salah’s undisputed kingdom, is now a shared responsibility – and a tactical experiment.

For now, Iraola has a front line stacked with left-leaning forwards, a record signing still feeling out the “wrong” flank, and a team that refuses to lose.

If this is Liverpool without a specialist on the right, what happens when – or if – they finally land one?