Liverpool's Attack Overhaul: Chiesa on the Brink as Inter Milan Circles

Liverpool’s overhaul of their attack for 2026/27 is only just getting started, but one thing already feels certain: there is no room for passengers.

Victor Munoz has arrived from Osasuna for £34 million after Richard Hughes activated the Spain World Cup winner’s release clause, the first major piece of a new-look frontline. He will not be the last.

Salah gone, wingers wanted

Mohamed Salah’s free transfer to Trabzonspor ripped a huge hole in Liverpool’s right flank. Inside Anfield, the response has been clear: stack the squad with one-v-one specialists out wide and reset the attack around pace and directness.

At least two more wingers are being targeted.

• Bradley Barcola sits at the top of the list. Paris Saint-Germain are playing hardball, demanding around £145m for the France winger before even thinking about letting him go.
• From the same dressing room, 18-year-old Ibrahim Mbaye is also in the frame. The two-time European champions are seeking roughly £60m for the teenager, who is already on the radar of Europe’s elite.

Liverpool have not stopped there. Bids have gone in for Brighton’s Yankuba Minteh, and the early noise is encouraging. If Liverpool meet Brighton’s £70m valuation, that deal is expected to get done.

All of that spending power has consequences.

Gakpo, Chiesa and the squeeze out wide

The push for new wide forwards is squeezing those already at the club. Cody Gakpo has been heavily linked with a big-money move to Tottenham Hotspur, a transfer that could inject around £72m into Liverpool’s budget.

Federico Chiesa is the other name edging towards the exit.

The Italy international joined Liverpool in 2024, meant to be a headline signing for Arne Slot’s first season. Instead, he has struggled badly to adapt to the Premier League. At 28 and on £150,000 per week, his profile and pay packet no longer match his impact.

Liverpool paid a fee that could rise to £12.5m to bring him in. Two flat seasons later, they are staring at a loss.

Inter sense a bargain

Inter Milan have moved to the front of the queue. The former Juventus winger has long been on their radar, and the timing now suits the Nerazzurri.

Once Luis Henrique’s switch to Roma is finalised – a loan with an obligation to buy, expected to total around €30m including bonuses – Inter coach Cristian Chivu is ready to strike for Chiesa.

“It's no secret that Federico Chiesa has long been in Inter's sights: the Liverpool striker fits the profile of the player the Nerazzurri are looking for,” Sportal reported.

The issue for Liverpool is brutal and simple: Chiesa’s value has collapsed.

From £20m hopes to a cut-price exit

Earlier in the window, Liverpool were understood to be seeking around £20m for the Euro 2020 winner. Inter are not entertaining that figure.

They are pushing to pay only €10m (£8.5m), banking on Liverpool’s need to clear the wage bill and refresh the squad. Sportal describe Chiesa’s market value as “less than €10 million: a tempting opportunity that Marotta could seize.”

For Hughes, it is a grim piece of arithmetic. Chiesa has cost Liverpool £150k per week over two largely unproductive seasons and now looks set to leave for less than they paid, right when every pound is being counted to fund a major attacking rebuild.

A deal Slot never truly got

Chiesa was the only addition to Arne Slot’s squad when the Dutchman came in back in 2024. On paper, it made sense: a proven international, a Euro winner, a player with pedigree at the top level.

On the pitch, it never clicked. Two seasons on, Liverpool are trying to build an aggressive, winger-heavy attack around new faces, while one of their most expensive earners is surplus to requirements.

If Inter get their way at €10m, Liverpool will absorb a financial hit and move on. The question now is whether that misstep in 2024 becomes a footnote in a successful rebuild, or a warning sign that their new recruitment drive cannot afford to repeat.