Liverpool's Pre-Season Challenges: Right-Back Dilemmas and Salah's Successor
Less than a month out from the Premier League kick-off, Liverpool’s pre-season under Andoni Iraola is unfolding thousands of miles away in the United States. The backdrop is familiar: optimism, intrigue, and a stack of unanswered questions. The context, though, is anything but routine.
Mohamed Salah, Andy Robertson and Ibrahima Konaté have all gone, and gone for nothing. Senior pillars of the dressing room have walked away at the end of their deals, leaving gaps not just on the team sheet but in the squad’s personality. Others may still follow. Recruitment, structure, pathway – every decision now feels consequential.
Here’s where things stand.
Bajcetic at Right-Back? Not Any Time Soon
The idea is tempting on paper. A technically gifted midfielder, comfortable in possession, with previous minutes at right-back. Could Stefan Bajcetic be Iraola’s wildcard solution on that side?
Not realistically.
Bajcetic did feature at right-back once for Liverpool, back in September 2023, and it did little to convince anyone this should be his long-term role. It was an experiment, not a blueprint.
His priority now is far more basic: get fit, stay fit, and play regular football again. That may even mean another loan move before he can re-establish himself as a serious midfield option. The notion of him becoming a genuine right-back candidate for Iraola is a distant prospect, not an active plan.
Life After Salah: Big Names, Bigger Fees
Replacing Salah is not a normal transfer problem. It’s a structural one. Goals, assists, gravity, leadership – Liverpool are trying to replace a system, not just a shirt number.
The club showed their hand with an £86m willingness for Yan Diomande, only to find RB Leipzig unmoved and the player himself leaning towards Paris Saint-Germain. That door, for now, is closed.
PSG winger Bradley Barcola sits prominently on the shortlist, but his price has been pushed north of £100m. Brighton’s Yanbuka Minteh, Said El Mala of Köln and Lille’s Matias Fernandez-Pardo have all come under serious consideration. Monaco’s Maghnes Akliouche has already prompted an enquiry earlier in the window.
None of those names has moved yet this summer. That matters. It keeps the market alive for Liverpool and suggests the club are content to watch, wait and pick their moment. Scouts are working beyond the names in the headlines, and there remains a genuine possibility of a left-field choice if the obvious targets stay out of reach or overvalued.
What isn’t in doubt is the need. Iraola has been clear: a new right-winger is not a luxury; it’s essential.
Centre-Forward: Isak, Risk and Makeshift Options
Liverpool’s centre-forward picture is equally delicate. Alexander Isak is the standout option but not an iron man. His history of minor injuries means any plan that leans on him alone is asking for trouble.
The club are exploring a new right-winger as a priority, but the long-term injury to Hugo Ekitike and the desire not to overload Isak inevitably raise the question of a second attacking signing.
If that extra forward doesn’t arrive, the solutions become more improvised. Cody Gakpo could again be asked to cover through the middle when required. Florian Wirtz offers a different interpretation of the role as a false nine. Federico Chiesa is another candidate who can operate centrally, though none of them truly convinced in that role last season.
Beyond that, the pathway leads to the Academy. Jayden Danns, when fit, sits ahead of Will Wright in the pecking order and could be called upon if injuries bite or cup rotations demand it. It’s a plan that can work in short bursts, but it underlines why another senior attacking body would make a lot of sense.
Richard Hughes: One Window and Out?
Behind the scenes, Liverpool are bracing for more upheaval.
There is a growing expectation that sporting director Richard Hughes will depart once the summer window closes, with Al Hilal in the Saudi Pro League emerging as his most likely destination. It would mark yet another change in a position that has been anything but stable in recent years.
As for a successor, no clear candidate has been teed up publicly. One internal possibility is Julian Ward, currently technical director at Fenway Sports Group and previously Liverpool’s sporting director. His name naturally comes into the conversation given his familiarity with the club’s structure and processes.
For now, though, there is no firm indication that a replacement is already lined up. Liverpool may be heading into a crucial season with yet another reset in their recruitment department looming on the horizon.
Kids on Tour: Hype vs Reality
The pre-season tour in the United States has brought a sizeable Academy contingent along for the ride. That always ignites excitement, but the pathway this season looks more nuanced than a simple “breakthrough or bust” narrative.
Several of the youngsters out there have already tasted senior or loan football: James McConnell, Lewis Koumas, Calum Scanlon, Luke Chambers and Harvey Davies among them. Most of that group are likely to head back out on loan again, using this tour as a showcase and a tune-up rather than a springboard straight into the first team.
Then there are the younger sparks. Sixteen-year-old winger Josh Abe has generated a genuine buzz, his talent obvious even in brief glimpses. Yet his development is expected to run primarily through Premier League 2 with the under-21s and the UEFA Youth League with the under-19s, rather than a sudden leap into regular senior action.
If you’re looking for realistic near-term impact, keep an eye on Will Wright and Kieran Morrison. Wright has impressed enough to be in the conversation for domestic cup minutes. Morrison, 19, signed a new deal in the summer and already has two senior appearances to his name. Both could feature in the League Cup squad come September.
New 18-year-old centre-back Ifeanyi Ndukwe will also have chances on tour to catch the eye. For him and others, this pre-season is less about immediate promotion and more about staking a claim in Iraola’s long-term thinking.
Right-Back and Djed Spence: The Wrong Fit
Right-back is turning into one of the trickiest puzzles on Iraola’s board.
Conor Bradley is the chosen man for that role, but the Northern Ireland international is still months away from returning. Jeremie Frimpong is next in line, yet his strengths are tilted heavily towards attacking play, and his injury record since arriving last summer has been patchy.
Last season, Liverpool relied on a mix-and-match approach. Joe Gomez, Curtis Jones, Dominik Szoboszlai and Wataru Endo all filled in at right-back at various points. Gomez is now needed more urgently at centre-back. Endo is still working towards full fitness. Jones and Szoboszlai are, first and foremost, midfielders, and using them wide in defence solves one problem while creating another.
The ideal answer looks clear enough: 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 big money to a player who, by their own admission, will not be a regular once Bradley is fit again. At the same time, Bradley’s own injury history as a professional cannot be ignored when planning the depth chart.
That’s where Djed Spence comes in – or rather, doesn’t.
Spence doesn’t fit the profile Liverpool are after. He would command a high fee, and that alone runs counter to the club’s stated intention not to overspend on a stop-gap or a future back-up. One decent World Cup or short burst of form has tempted clubs into expensive mistakes before. Liverpool are determined not to repeat that.
So the search continues: a squad reshaped, a sporting director likely on his way, a right flank in need of reinvention. With the season closing in, the real question is simple: can Iraola and Liverpool turn this uncertainty into an opportunity, or will these gaps define their campaign before a ball is even kicked?
