Liverpool's Winger Dilemma Under Andoni Iraola

Andoni Iraola knows exactly what he’s missing.

As the new Liverpool head coach sizes up his squad on the eve of the Premier League season, one concern keeps coming back: he does not have enough wingers. Not for the way he wants this team to play. Not for the demands of a nine‑month campaign.

He is blunt about it, too.

Wingers wanted – and fast

Liverpool have already felt the market bite. A £50m offer for Brighton’s Yankuba Minteh went in earlier this week. It was rejected. They have also explored a move for Paris St-Germain’s Ibrahim Mbaye, testing different routes into a market where elite wide players are scarce and expensive.

Bradley Barcola, also of PSG, remains the main target. The Frenchman sits at the top of Liverpool’s list as they push to bolster their wide attacking options before the window closes.

“As a manager, this is an easy one for me. I wanted the players for the first day on 13 July – everyone here and all the positions doubled with top-level players,” Iraola said when pressed on the club’s transfer work.

That ideal never came close. The market is moving, the season is starting, and Liverpool are still short in key zones.

“You understand how the competition works, that (the) market is open and you start the competition. We have to adapt as coaches to this situation,” he said. “I hate these two weeks or these 10 days that we have because there is a lot of uncertainty – but not in Liverpool, everywhere. But we have to adapt.”

He doesn’t like it. He accepts it. And he clearly expects the club to act.

A new-look Liverpool – and big departures

Since Iraola replaced Arne Slot, Liverpool have not exactly stood still. Victor Munoz has arrived for £34.5m, a significant outlay on a player expected to impact the first team quickly. Ronald Araujo has come in on loan from Barcelona, adding high-level experience at the back.

Jeremy Jacquet, the French centre-half, also joined from Rennes in a £60m deal, though that transfer was finalised back in January. The rebuild has been rolling for some time.

But the exits have been just as striking. Mohamed Salah has gone. So have Andy Robertson and Ibrahima Konate. Curtis Jones is in Italy to complete a £30m move to Inter Milan. Senior figures, big personalities, and proven performers have walked out of the dressing room in the space of one summer.

That churn explains Iraola’s urgency.

“You are asking me what we need - there are certain situations that for me are clear – especially now on the wing because we don't have enough players specific to play in those positions,” he said.

The message is sharp: this is not about filling shirts, it is about raising the level.

“And then in other positions, I think we have to be open-minded in the market to see situations that honestly can improve our team.

“It's not about signing because we need a player here. No, it's about improving the squad. And we have very good players already here, so to improve our very good players, you need like a specific level of player, yes.”

“We will definitely sign some players”

The Spaniard has not softened his stance in private or public. Speaking to Jamie Carragher on Sky Sports, he doubled down on the club’s need to be busy late in the window.

“We will definitely sign some players. Some deals you have to wait until the end. But the end is the important picture, the one we will have on September 1. Because it is true that we are still quite thin.”

Those comments echo what he said during Liverpool’s pre-season tour in the USA, when he openly flagged concerns about his defensive options. Inside Anfield, the expectation matches the rhetoric: it will be a hectic final stretch of the window.

The pressure is clear. The calendar is not waiting. Nor are Liverpool’s rivals.

Curtis Jones: a departure understood

Amid the scramble to add, one departure in particular has hit a different note. Curtis Jones, a product of the academy and a player who grew up with the club, is on the verge of leaving for Inter Milan.

“With Curtis, you know. I think it's still not official but there is an ongoing situation,” Iraola said. “I understood with Curtis. I talked to him. I think in the first or second training session we talked.”

There is no bitterness in his voice when he speaks about the midfielder. Only respect.

“I value him a lot as a player. He loved this club – it was very clear since the beginning for me – but I understood that probably the outcome was going to be what it has been at the end.

“I've never hid it - for me Curtis is a very good player. A very, very good player, but I understood straight away when he talked to me about his situation. It was a situation that could happen and it looks like it is going to happen.”

So Liverpool move on. A new coach, a reshaped squad, key leaders gone, and a glaring need out wide that has yet to be solved.

The window ticks down. The season looms. How quickly Liverpool answer Iraola’s call for wingers may well define what kind of campaign this becomes.