Liverpool’s Post-Salah Rebuild: Iraola Redefines the Right Wing
Just over two months after Mohamed Salah walked away from Anfield, Liverpool are still learning how to live without the man who defined their attack for a generation. The goals, the angles, the familiar curl from that right side – all gone. In his place, Andoni Iraola is not so much patching a hole as redrawing the entire front line.
Rather than hunting for a like-for-like, left-footed winger to hug the right touchline, Liverpool have flipped the script. The club pushed hard to land Bradley Barcola, making him one of the most expensive signings in their history and handing him the attacking responsibility that once sat on Salah’s shoulders.
Barcola arrives from Paris Saint-Germain with numbers that justify the outlay: 13 goals and seven assists last season. He is right-footed, he is direct, and he is at his most dangerous when he can cut in from the left. In other words, Liverpool have inverted the old Salah template. The threat now pours in from the opposite flank.
That shift has created a clear problem on the right.
Liverpool’s squad is suddenly lopsided: four players who prefer the left wing, and not a single natural right winger after the summer window slammed shut. The imbalance has already shown on the pitch. Teenage prospect Rio Ngumoha was thrown in from the right against Newcastle and laboured. Cody Gakpo, asked to do a similar job against Nottingham Forest, offered a touch more control but little of the incision Iraola craves.
The manager, though, sees an answer in a less obvious place. New signing Víctor Munoz, another who has built his career starting from the left, might end up being the key to unlocking that vacant flank.
“Víctor has played more games on the left in his career but has maybe been even better on the right,” Iraola said before Liverpool’s Premier League trip to Ipswich Town. It was more than a passing remark. It sounded like a plan.
Munoz fits the role now. He understands the wide channels, can drive at full-backs, and offers the kind of delivery that can stretch a back line. Yet Iraola is not ready to abandon the longer-term project on that side of the pitch.
He remains committed to moulding Ngumoha into a genuine two-sided threat, even if the early signs on the right have been uneven.
“We know Rio can play on the left and showed his qualities,” Iraola insisted. “He needs to develop on the right so it gives him more options to play. He is so young. [But] because he wasn't incredible in the first game on the right, we can't say he will never play on the right anymore.”
That is the balance Iraola is trying to strike: results now, development later, without losing either. Ipswich on Friday will offer another glimpse of how far along that process Liverpool really are.
The tactical stakes are obvious. With Barcola dominating the left and drifting inside, the right flank cannot simply be a mirror image. It has to complement him. A more traditional winger on that side – whether Munoz or a fast-tracked Ngumoha – could transform the service into Alexander Isak.
The Swedish striker is built for the penalty area. He thrives when the ball arrives early and often, when crosses and cut-backs allow him to attack space rather than manufacture it. Give him runners and width, and his presence in the box becomes a constant threat. Starve him, and Liverpool’s new-look attack risks becoming one-dimensional, funnelled almost entirely through Barcola’s channel.
Amid all of this, Gakpo’s role remains intriguing. Manchester City and Tottenham both showed late interest in the Dutch forward during the summer, but Liverpool held firm. Iraola still sees him as a central figure in this evolving front line, a player who can operate across the attack and keep competition fierce in every position.
The shape is changing, the reference points are new, and the right flank is still up for grabs. For Liverpool, the post-Salah era is not about finding a clone. It is about discovering whether this bold, asymmetric system can keep them ruthless in the final third – and how quickly Iraola can make it all click.
