Liverpool's Transfer Plans: Iraola's Vision for the Squad

Andoni Iraola knows the questions won’t stop until the signatures are on the page. Liverpool’s new head coach has made one thing clear, though: the club are not done yet.

The squad is light. He knows it, the club know it, the fans shout it every day online. And with the Premier League season looming, the gaps are obvious.

Wide areas top the list

Left wing and right wing sit at the top of Liverpool’s shopping list. Talks are ongoing with PSG over Bradley Barcola and Ibrahim Mbaye, two players viewed as key to refreshing the attack and easing the burden on the current front line.

There has also been a rejected £50m bid for Yankuba Minteh, but that move feels like part of the game. The sense around the situation is that Liverpool’s interest in Minteh is being used to nudge PSG on their valuation of Mbaye, rather than a full-blooded pursuit of the winger himself.

Either way, the message is clear: Liverpool want pace, width and end product in both wide positions. Just landing the PSG pair, though, would not be enough to transform this squad into one ready to launch a serious 2026/27 title push.

Midfield reshuffle on the horizon

Then comes the midfield. Curtis Jones is on his way to Inter Milan, and that departure would rip out another piece of Liverpool’s core.

Even before Jones’s move, there was a strong argument that Iraola needed another body in the middle of the park to cope with the volume of fixtures. If Jones does leave, that need becomes non-negotiable. One more midfielder becomes essential, not optional.

Adam Wharton is the dream name. The Crystal Palace midfielder would add control, composure and a high ceiling, but his £100m price tag makes any deal extremely difficult. For now, it remains more fantasy than expectation.

Right-back debate refuses to go away

Right-back is another fault line in the squad. Supporters have gone back and forth over it all summer.

Ronald Araujo can fill in there and perform to a good level, his defensive instincts and physicality giving Liverpool a solid option on that flank. But that solution feels like a compromise rather than a plan. Araujo is a centre-back by trade, and relying on him long term at right-back would limit what Iraola can do tactically.

A specialist right-back would change that picture completely. Liverpool have been linked with a loan move for 20-year-old Hector Fort, and the early signs from scouting and analysis are encouraging. He looks dynamic, modern, and suited to the kind of aggressive, front-foot football Iraola wants.

Iraola’s transfer promise

Pressed on the situation in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports, Jamie Carragher asked the question hanging over the fanbase: will there actually be more signings?

Iraola didn’t hesitate.

“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.”

That thinness is why four targeted additions could change the entire mood around Anfield.

Barcola and Mbaye would give Liverpool fresh energy and unpredictability out wide. Wharton, if a deal somehow materialised, would reshape the midfield for years. Fort, or another specialist right-back, would bring balance to a back line that has been patched together for too long.

The window is ticking down. Iraola has made his stance public. Now Liverpool’s recruitment team must decide: do they edge into the new season short-handed, or back their new coach with the depth and quality he needs to make this project genuinely dangerous?