Liverpool's Summer Questions: Right Wing, Right-Back and Sporting Director
Less than a month to go. Liverpool are out in the United States, learning the ways of Andoni Iraola, and the countdown to the Premier League opener is no longer theoretical. It’s looming.
They do so without three pillars of the recent era. Mohamed Salah, Andy Robertson and Ibrahima Konaté have all gone for nothing at the end of their deals, ripping experience and reliability out of the squad in one hit. Others may yet follow. No wonder the fanbase is restless.
Here’s where things stand.
Bajcetic at Right-Back? Not Any Time Soon
The idea is tempting. A technical midfielder, comfortable on the ball, tucking into those half-spaces from right-back. Could Stefan Bajcetic be Iraola’s surprise solution?
Not really. Not yet.
Bajcetic has played there for Liverpool before, but you have to go back to September 2023 for that, and it wasn’t exactly a revelation. The reality of his situation is more basic: he needs to get fit, stay fit, and stack minutes. That might even mean another loan.
Until he proves he can handle the physical load week after week, the conversation about reinventing him as a right-back is miles down the road. For now, his fight is simply to be available.
Life After Salah: Liverpool’s Right-Wing Hunt
Replacing Salah isn’t a normal recruitment problem. It’s a structural one. Goals, assists, gravity, presence. Liverpool know it, Iraola knows it, and he’s already made it clear: a new right-winger is non-negotiable.
Liverpool pushed hard for one marquee answer. They were ready to go to £86m for RB Leipzig’s Yan Diomande. Leipzig refused, the player leant towards Paris Saint-Germain, and the door closed.
The shortlist hasn’t stopped there. PSG’s Bradley Barcola is admired but would cost north of £100m. Brighton’s Yanbuka Minteh has been assessed. So have Said El Mala of Köln and Lille’s Matias Fernandez-Pardo. Earlier in the window, there was an enquiry about Monaco’s Maghnes Akliouche.
None of those names has moved yet. That matters. It keeps Liverpool in the conversation, keeps the market fluid. Scouts are still working through other options, and it wouldn’t shock anyone inside the club if the final pick came from slightly left-field.
What isn’t in doubt is the priority. The right wing cannot be left alone.
Centre-Forward: Isak, Injuries and an Overloaded Gakpo
Up front, the picture is just as delicate.
Alexander Isak is the only recognised centre-forward option and he’s not exactly ironman. He misses games with smaller issues, the kind that don’t grab headlines but disrupt rhythm. With Hugo Ekitike out long term, Liverpool are walking a tightrope.
The plan is to strengthen the forward line with that new right-winger, but there’s room – and arguably a need – for another central option. If that doesn’t happen, the burden falls back on familiar shoulders.
Cody Gakpo could again be asked to plug the gap through the middle. Florian Wirtz offers a different look as a false nine. Federico Chiesa is another possibility in that role. None of them truly convinced there last season, yet all may be asked to improvise again if the market doesn’t break Liverpool’s way.
Behind them, the Academy waits. When fit, Jayden Danns sits ahead of Will Wright in the pecking order. They are options, but they are also teenagers. Relying on them is a risk, not a strategy.
Richard Hughes: One Window and Out?
While Iraola reshapes the squad, the structure above him is shifting too.
There is a growing expectation that sporting director Richard Hughes will walk away once this summer window closes, with Al Hilal in the Saudi Pro League emerging as his most likely destination. It would be another short chapter in a role that has seen regular turnover since the Michael Edwards era.
Who comes next? Internally, Julian Ward is an obvious name. He’s currently technical director for Fenway Sports Group and knows the club, the market and the model. At this stage, though, there’s no firm indication that Liverpool have lined up a successor or are close to announcing one.
For now, Hughes is charged with delivering a pivotal window while his own future points elsewhere. The margin for error is thin.
Kids on Tour: Who’s Really Close?
The pre-season tour in the United States is full of young faces, but not all of them are on the brink of a breakthrough.
Plenty already know the loan circuit: James McConnell, Lewis Koumas, Calum Scanlon, Luke Chambers and Harvey Davies have all had spells away. The expectation is that most of them will go back out again to keep their development moving.
The real buzz has centred on 16-year-old winger Josh Abe. He has excited coaches and supporters alike, yet the club believe his next step is heavy involvement in Premier League 2 with the under-21s and the UEFA Youth League with the U19s, rather than a sudden leap into the first team.
Two names feel closer to the senior door. Will Wright and Kieran Morrison – the latter having signed a new deal in the summer and already made two senior appearances last season – are both in the frame to feature in the League Cup squad come September.
New 18-year-old centre-back Ifeanyi Ndukwe is another to watch on tour. He will get chances to impress, even if a full breakthrough this season remains a stretch.
The Djed Spence Question and a Right-Back Dilemma
Right-back is where Liverpool’s squad puzzle becomes most awkward.
Iraola has nailed his colours to the mast: Conor Bradley is his first choice. The problem is timing. Bradley is still months away from a return, and Liverpool have to live in the meantime.
Jeremie Frimpong is next up, but he’s an attacking force first and a defender second, and he has already had his share of niggles since arriving last summer. When the injury list lengthened last season, Joe Gomez, Curtis Jones, Dominik Szoboszlai and Wataru Endo all filled in at right-back.
Gomez may now be needed centrally. Endo is still working back towards full sharpness. Jones and Szoboszlai are midfielders by trade, not long-term full-back solutions.
So what do Liverpool do? The cleanest fix would be a centre-back who can also cover right-back, or a specialist right-back on a season-long loan. The club do not want to throw big money at a player they openly admit won’t be first choice once Bradley is back. Then again, Bradley’s patchy injury record as a professional has to sit in the back of their minds.
Into that debate comes the fan question: Djed Spence?
On multiple fronts, he doesn’t quite fit. He would be expensive, and he’s not the hybrid centre-back/right-back profile that would solve two issues at once. There’s another warning sign too: buying off the back of a good World Cup cameo is one of the oldest transfer traps in the book. Liverpool know it. They’ve seen others fall into it.
The squad still needs a right-winger, possibly another forward, clarity at right-back and soon, perhaps, a new sporting director. The tour in America is about fitness and tactics, yes, but it’s also about answers.
How many of them Liverpool find before the window shuts will define Iraola’s first season before a ball is even kicked.
