Liverpool's Transfer Dilemma: Pressure on Richard Hughes
The clock is still ticking on Liverpool’s transfer window. And, according to Fabrizio Romano, the biggest call of all is still very much on the table.
Hughes under pressure as window tightens
Tick. Tack. Tick. Tack. That’s how this summer feels for Richard Hughes.
Liverpool’s new sporting director has already watched one key target slip through his fingers. Yan Diomande, widely viewed as the long-term heir to Mohamed Salah on that right flank, is at Real Madrid now, not Anfield. It was a high-profile miss, and it has sharpened the scrutiny on everything that follows.
Pre-season has given Andoni Iraola plenty to smile about, but it has also stripped the squad bare under the floodlights. The new manager has seen energy, ideas, pressing – and a worrying lack of depth. The conclusion is obvious: this squad needs help, and it needs it quickly.
Yet the first game of the season at St James’ Park against Newcastle United is almost here, and Liverpool are still largely motionless in the market. No decisive push. No statement signing. No clear reshaping of a group that ran out of balance last season despite heavy spending.
They can’t afford a repeat. Not with a new coach, a new style and a fanbase expecting a title challenge, not a transition year dressed up as ambition.
Outgoings mount as arrivals stall
The uncomfortable truth for Liverpool fans is that most of the noise right now is about players leaving, not arriving.
Ifeanyi Ndukwe, one of the standout performers in pre-season, is closing in on a loan move to Levante. Luke Chambers, another who caught the eye over the summer, is also being lined up for a loan exit.
Curtis Jones looks the next major decision. Inter Milan are keen, but there is still a gap between their valuation and Liverpool’s. Even so, the signs are ominous. Jones has not signed an extension to a contract that runs out next summer, and the situation increasingly points towards a parting of ways.
If he goes, the damage won’t just be technical or tactical. It strikes at the heart of Liverpool’s homegrown quota.
Tyler Morton, Caoimhin Kelleher and Jarell Quansah all departed last summer. Strip Jones out of the equation as well, and the number of club-trained players in the first-team squad starts to look dangerously thin. For Iraola, that’s not just a registration headache; it’s a reality that could leave him working with an even smaller core group across four competitions.
Romano: Gakpo deal to Tottenham “still on”
As if that wasn’t enough, another major issue has now been thrown into the mix.
Fabrizio Romano has confirmed that Cody Gakpo’s future remains unresolved – and that a move to Tottenham is still a live possibility. Despite suggestions that the deal had collapsed, Romano says the transfer is “still very much on” and that Liverpool are already planning to replace the Dutch forward if he does go.
Gakpo did not hit his highest level under Arne Slot last season. His form flickered rather than burned, and he never truly nailed down an undisputed starting role. Even so, he remains a versatile attacker in his prime years, and losing him now, with the window running down, would rip another hole in an already stretched squad.
At this stage of the summer, Liverpool should be stockpiling quality, not watching it walk out of the door. Especially not to a direct Premier League rival.
A decisive moment for Liverpool’s summer
All of this funnels back to one man and one moment.
Hughes has to act. The squad needs reinforcements tailored to Iraola’s demands, not a patchwork group held together by hope and versatility. The homegrown numbers need addressing. The forward line needs clarity – and, if Gakpo leaves, a serious replacement.
The clock is still ticking. How Liverpool respond in these final days will define far more than just a transfer window.
