Liverpool’s Summer Transfer Strategy: Right Wing, Right-Back, and Sporting Director
Less than a month to go. Liverpool are in the United States under new head coach Andoni Iraola, working through pre-season sessions while the Premier League countdown ticks louder by the day. The squad is changing, the hierarchy may soon follow, and the transfer market still has more questions than answers.
Mohamed Salah, Andy Robertson and Ibrahima Konate have already walked away for nothing at the end of last season, tearing out three long-standing pillars of the dressing room in one hit. Others could yet follow. The rebuild is real, and it is urgent.
Here’s where things stand.
Bajcetic at Right-Back? Not Any Time Soon
The idea is tempting on paper: Stefan Bajcetic, technical, composed, tactically sharp, filling in at right-back for Iraola.
Reality is harsher.
Bajcetic has played there before, but only briefly and not especially convincingly, back in September 2023. That feels a lifetime ago for a young player whose recent story has been dominated by injury and recovery rather than development and rhythm.
Right now his battle isn’t about nailing down a position. It’s about getting fit, staying fit, and simply playing regular football again, even if that means another loan. Any serious plan to reinvent him as a Liverpool right-back sits a long way down the road.
Life After Salah: A Pricey, Complicated Search
Replacing Salah is the defining question of Liverpool’s attack. Iraola has been clear: a new right-winger isn’t a luxury, it’s imperative.
Liverpool tested the market hard. They were prepared to go as high as £86m for RB Leipzig’s Yan Diomande, but Leipzig refused to sell at that price and the player himself appears set on Paris Saint-Germain. That pursuit has stalled, if not ended.
PSG winger Bradley Barcola sits on the shortlist as well, but his valuation has sailed beyond the £100m mark. Liverpool admire him, they do not control that price.
Scouts have also run the rule over Brighton’s Yanbuka Minteh, Koln’s Said El Mala and Lille’s Matias Fernandez-Pardo, while Monaco’s Maghnes Akliouche was the subject of an enquiry earlier in the window. All monitored, none signed. Notably, none of those names has moved anywhere yet this summer, which keeps the board in play but underlines how sticky the market is at the very top end.
Liverpool are clearly doing their homework and are not rushing into a panic buy. Given the profile of players tracked so far, a left-field decision wouldn’t shock anyone inside the club. But the clock is ticking, and the hole on the right is obvious.
Centre-Forward: Protecting Isak, Searching for Support
At centre-forward, the situation is more delicate than dramatic. Alexander Isak is the main man, but he is not indestructible. Liverpool know it, and the fixture list will not show mercy.
With Hugo Ekitike out long term, the risk of leaning too heavily on Isak is clear. A new right-winger remains the priority, yet there is room – and a strong argument – for another forward if the right opportunity appears.
If that doesn’t happen, Iraola may again have to shuffle the pack. Cody Gakpo can step into the No.9 role when required, as he has done before. Florian Wirtz offers a different solution, operating as a false nine. Federico Chiesa is another possible option through the middle. None of them fully convinced in that role last season, but they remain internal answers if the market doesn’t deliver an external one.
Behind them, the Academy waits. When fit, Jayden Danns is ahead of Will Wright in the pecking order. It’s a lot to ask of teenagers, yet their names are in the conversation for a reason: the depth chart at centre-forward is not thick.
Richard Hughes: One Window and Out?
Upstairs, change is looming as well.
There is a growing expectation that Richard Hughes will leave his role as sporting director once the summer window closes, with Saudi Pro League side Al Hilal emerging as his most likely destination. It would mark another swift turn in a position that has seen more churn than Liverpool would like in recent years.
As for a replacement, no clear succession plan has emerged publicly. One internal option is Julian Ward, currently technical director for Fenway Sports Group and previously in the sporting director’s chair at Liverpool. He fits the profile, he knows the club, but there has been no firm indication that he is being lined up to step back into that role.
For now, Hughes is tasked with delivering a crucial window, even as his own future drifts towards the exit.
Kids on Tour: Who’s Really Close?
The pre-season tour of the United States has given the Academy a strong presence around the first team. The group includes players with loan experience – James McConnell, Lewis Koumas, Calum Scanlon, Luke Chambers and Harvey Davies – alongside those just beginning to taste this level, like Will Wright and Josh Sonni-Lambie.
Most of the players who have already been out on loan are likely to go again. That pathway remains the preferred route to senior football.
Sixteen-year-old winger Josh Abe has drawn plenty of buzz, and with reason. His talent is obvious. But his next step is expected to be more minutes in Premier League 2 with the under-21s, plus involvement in the UEFA Youth League with the U19s, rather than an immediate leap into regular senior action.
If you’re looking for names who could genuinely feature this season, especially in the early domestic cups, keep an eye on Wright and Kieran Morrison. Morrison, 19, signed a new deal in the summer and already has two senior appearances to his name. Both could be in the frame for the League Cup squad come September.
New 18-year-old centre-back Ifeanyi Ndukwe is another to watch on tour. Opportunities will be there for him to impress Iraola and his staff in training and friendlies, even if a full breakthrough this season would be ambitious.
Right-Back Dilemma and the Djed Spence Question
Right-back might be the most awkward puzzle of all.
Iraola has been clear: Conor Bradley is his first choice. The problem is timing. Bradley is still months away from returning, and Liverpool have to navigate the opening stretch of the season without him.
Jeremie Frimpong is next in line, but his strengths lie in attacking bursts rather than defensive solidity, and he has already had his share of injury issues since arriving last summer. Behind them, last season’s patchwork solutions remain familiar: Joe Gomez, Curtis Jones, Dominik Szoboszlai and Wataru Endo all filled in at various points.
Gomez is likely needed at centre-back. Endo is still working towards full fitness. Jones and Szoboszlai are midfielders by trade, not long-term full-back projects.
The ideal answer looks like one of two things: a centre-back who can also operate at right-back, or a specialist right-back brought in on loan for the season. Liverpool do not want to commit a major fee to a player they already accept will not be first choice once Bradley returns. Then again, Bradley’s patchy injury record as a professional has to be part of the calculation.
Which brings us to Djed Spence.
On paper, he ticks some boxes. In reality, he doesn’t fit what Liverpool need. He would be expensive, for a start, and he is neither the versatile centre-back/right-back hybrid nor the short-term loan option that makes strategic sense. And the club are in no mood to gamble heavily on a player off the back of a good World Cup or a brief hot streak.
The search for balance at right-back goes on. So does the hunt for Salah’s heir. So does the wait to see who will be steering the recruitment ship once this window shuts.
Liverpool are deep into a summer of change. The only certainty is that there are more big calls still to come.
