Liverpool's Summer Transfer Dilemmas: Right Wings and Right-Backs

Less than a month to go. Liverpool are in the United States, Andoni Iraola is putting his ideas on the grass, and the Premier League countdown has started to tick a little louder.

The backdrop is anything but calm. Mohamed Salah, Andy Robertson and Ibrahima Konaté have all walked away on free transfers, ripping out three long-standing pillars of the squad in one hit. Other exits may yet follow. The rebuild is real, and so are the questions.

Here’s where things stand.

Bajcetic at Right-Back? Not Any Time Soon

The idea is tempting on paper. Stefan Bajcetic has filled in at right-back before, and Liverpool’s options on that flank are stretched. But the reality is more brutal.

His last outing there came back in September 2023 and it didn’t convince. More importantly, his situation is now about something far more basic: getting fit, staying fit and playing football regularly again.

For Bajcetic, the next step might even be another loan just to bank minutes and rhythm. The notion of him becoming a genuine right-back option for Iraola is some distance away. Right now, Liverpool’s staff will simply want him back in contention in his natural areas of the pitch, not reinvented on the flank.

Life After Salah: Liverpool’s Hunt for a New Right Wing

Replace Mohamed Salah. Four words that can destabilise any recruitment department.

Liverpool have at least shown they’re willing to swing big. They were prepared to go to £86 million for RB Leipzig’s Yan Diomande, only to find the German club unwilling to sell at that figure and the player himself seemingly leaning towards Paris Saint-Germain.

PSG’s Bradley Barcola is firmly on the Reds’ shortlist, but his price has drifted north of £100m. Brighton’s Yanbuka Minteh, Said El Mala of Köln and Lille’s Matias Fernandez-Pardo have all been assessed. Earlier in the window there was also an enquiry over Monaco’s Maghnes Akliouche.

None of those names has moved yet this summer, which keeps doors ajar. Liverpool are clearly doing their homework and casting the net wide. A surprise name emerging late in the window would not shock anyone inside the club.

What is clear, though, is Iraola’s stance: a new right-winger is not a luxury. It’s a necessity.

Centre-Forward: Isak Needs Help

Up front, another problem. Alexander Isak is the only established centre-forward option and he is not exactly known for ironman availability. Minor injuries, missed games, a pattern Liverpool know too well from last season.

The club are already looking to strengthen the forward line with that new right-winger. There is also room, and arguably a need, for another central option, especially with Hugo Ekitike facing a long-term absence and no desire within the club to run Isak into the ground.

If nobody else arrives, the fallback options are familiar. Cody Gakpo could again be asked to lead the line at times. Florian Wirtz might be used as a false nine. Federico Chiesa offers another route. None of them truly convinced in that role last season, which is why the question keeps returning.

Behind them, the Academy beckons. When fit, Jayden Danns is seen as being ahead of Will Wright in the pecking order. That’s a big responsibility for young shoulders if the senior recruitment doesn’t land another striker.

Richard Hughes: One Window and Out?

Upstairs, there is turbulence as well.

Expectation is growing that sporting director Richard Hughes will leave once this summer window is done, with Saudi Pro League side Al Hilal viewed as his most likely next destination.

What happens after that is less clear. Liverpool have cycled through several sporting directors in recent years and could look internally again. Julian Ward, now technical director at Fenway Sports Group, is an obvious name, given his previous stint in the role.

For now, though, there is no indication that a successor has been lined up. It leaves the club facing the prospect of a major strategic position changing hands again just as a new head coach is trying to bed in his ideas.

Young Tourists in America: Who Can Actually Break Through?

The pre-season tour squad in the United States is littered with young faces, but not all are on the brink of the first team.

Many have already tasted senior or loan football: James McConnell, Lewis Koumas, Calum Scanlon, Luke Chambers and Harvey Davies among them. The expectation is that most of those who have been out on loan will go again, chasing consistent minutes rather than sporadic cameos under Iraola.

Sixteen-year-old winger Josh Abe has sparked a genuine buzz, yet his next logical step is more likely a bigger role in Premier League 2 with the under-21s and involvement in the UEFA Youth League with the U19s, rather than a sudden leap into the Premier League.

Two names stand out as realistic short-term beneficiaries. Will Wright and Kieran Morrison, who signed a new deal in the summer and already has two senior appearances, could both feature in the League Cup squad come September. New 18-year-old centre-back Ifeanyi Ndukwe should also get chances to impress on tour and stake an early claim in Iraola’s thinking.

For most of the youngsters, though, this trip is about exposure and education, not immediate elevation.

Right-Back Puzzle and the Djed Spence Question

Right-back is where Liverpool’s squad build feels most fragile.

Iraola has been clear that Conor Bradley is his first-choice in that role. The problem is the Northern Ireland international is still months away from a return. Jeremie Frimpong is next in line but is far more natural going forward than defending and has already had his share of injuries since arriving last summer.

Last season, Joe Gomez, Curtis Jones, Dominik Szoboszlai and Wataru Endo all filled in there when required. Gomez is now needed at centre-back. Endo is not yet fully fit. Jones and Szoboszlai are midfielders by trade and by instinct.

The ideal solution looks obvious: either a centre-back who can also operate at right-back, or a specialist right-back on a season-long loan. Liverpool do not want to commit a major fee to a player they already admit will not be a regular once Bradley is fit again. Then again, Bradley’s own patchy injury record as a professional is a factor they cannot ignore.

That brings us to Djed Spence. Or rather, away from him.

He doesn’t fit either profile Liverpool are seeking. He would be expensive, and that’s before you even get to the principle that still holds strong inside elite recruitment circles: you do not buy a player on the back of a good World Cup and little else.

Liverpool’s summer, then, is a delicate balancing act. Holes to plug, stars to replace, a sporting director likely heading for the exit, and a new coach trying to knit it all together before the first whistle blows. How they navigate the next few weeks will say plenty about what this new era at Anfield really wants to be.