Liverpool's Search for a New Winger: The Case of Savinho
Liverpool’s search for a new winger is starting to feel like a high‑stakes game of chicken at the top end of the transfer market.
Bradley Barcola remains a headline name on their radar, but the numbers around the Paris Saint-Germain forward are eye-watering. A valuation in the region of £145m has been floated, a figure that would test even the most bullish sporting director. If Richard Hughes decides that fee is a step too far for a player who wants out of Paris, Liverpool will have to look elsewhere.
And that “elsewhere” is where the story gets interesting.
Life after Salah – and the profile gap
Mohamed Salah’s departure at the end of June ripped more than just 30 goals a season out of Liverpool’s team. At 34, he agreed to terminate his £400k-per-week contract a year early, leaving a stylistic hole that the squad simply does not fill right now.
Salah was a very specific weapon: a left-footed right winger who could hug the touchline, drive inside, and finish like a centre-forward. Andoni Iraola does not currently have that profile. He has forwards. He does not have that forward.
Barcola, for all his talent, does not solve that problem cleanly. The France international is right-footed and often looks more dangerous from the left than from the right. He can operate on either flank, but he would be a flexible attacking option rather than a like-for-like heir to Salah’s role.
So Liverpool’s recruitment puzzle isn’t just about star power. It’s about fit.
Savinho enters the frame
That is where Savinho comes into focus.
The Manchester City winger, 22, has told the Premier League champions he wants out this summer in search of regular first-team football. His situation has been laid bare by Fabrizio Romano, who reported that Savinho has formally informed City of his desire to leave.
“Savinho informs Manchester City about his desire to leave this summer,” Romano wrote on X, adding that the Brazilian “wants to play more and develop in his career” and that “all in Man City hands now.”
Unlike Barcola, Savinho carries echoes of Salah’s profile. A wide forward comfortable on the right, direct, and aggressive, he offers that familiar cutting-edge threat from the flank that Liverpool fans have grown used to over the last decade. He is not Salah, but the blueprint is closer.
Romano has also stated that Savinho sits at the top of Tottenham’s transfer list, and that is where Liverpool’s timing becomes crucial.
Spurs push, Liverpool wait
Tottenham are not hanging around. According to TEAMtalk, Roberto De Zerbi’s side have given Manchester City a deadline: conclude talks by the weekend or they will walk away and pursue other options. Cody Gakpo is even mentioned among the potential alternatives Spurs are monitoring.
For now, Spurs are in the driving seat. They want clarity, and quickly.
Savinho, for his part, is not a bargain-bin opportunity. TEAMtalk value him at around £60m, and he remains tied to City, now under Enzo Maresca, until 2031. Any deal will require conviction and a significant outlay, even if the fee is far more manageable than the Barcola figure.
To some Liverpool supporters, another winger from a domestic rival, still relatively unproven at the very highest level, might feel like a gamble. Yet there is a player there, and a serious one, if the right manager and system tap into his ceiling.
The question is whether Liverpool are prepared to move from admiration to action.
For the moment, the spotlight sits on North London. If Tottenham and City cannot find common ground by the weekend, the door swings open. That is when Hughes and Liverpool will have to decide: is Savinho the Salah successor they want to bet on, or just another name that got away in a summer they cannot afford to get wrong?
