Liverpool's Transfer Strategy: Key Moves for Wide Attack

Liverpool’s transfer plan this summer has been blunt and unapologetic: restore elite one-v-one threat out wide or risk losing the edge that powered their title win.

Mohamed Salah’s exit on a free has ripped a hole in the right side of the attack. It is still gaping. And until it’s filled, every move Liverpool make in this window is framed by that absence.

Liverpool load up out wide

Richard Hughes has landed one major piece already, triggering Victor Muñoz’s £34m release clause to bring the Spain World Cup winner in from Osasuna. A smart deal, a decisive one, but nobody at Anfield is pretending the job is done.

Liverpool are actively working on at least two more wide forwards.

Bradley Barcola has been the top target ever since the club backed away from Yan Diomande. The 23-year-old is seen as the ideal fit, but Paris Saint-Germain are in no mood to bargain. Their starting price sits at a staggering £145m before they will even consider letting him go.

That hasn’t stopped Liverpool looking elsewhere. The newly crowned 2024/25 Premier League champions have also opened talks for Brighton’s Yankuba Minteh. Two bids have already gone in for the 22-year-old Gambian: £50m, then £60m. Brighton’s stance is clear – they will not sell the left-footer unless an offer hits £70m.

At those numbers, Liverpool’s recruitment drive starts to depend on who they can move out.

Gakpo pushed towards the exit

Cody Gakpo’s name keeps circling around one destination: Tottenham.

On £250,000 per week and no longer untouchable in the pecking order, the 27-year-old could be the major sale that unlocks the rest of Liverpool’s business. A fee of around £72m has been suggested for the Netherlands international.

Gakpo is not a new idea at Spurs. He has been a long-term target for Roberto De Zerbi, who is in the middle of ripping up and rebuilding his frontline. Manchester City pair Savinho and Omar Marmoush are already lined up to wear white this season, and Gakpo is viewed as the final attacking piece for the Italian’s system.

Transfer specialist Fabrizio Romano now believes that move is close.

“Don’t forget Cody Gakpo, because Savinho is going to Tottenham in London for medical tests and contract signing,” he told his YouTube audience. “Omar Marmoush is expected to go to Tottenham as a centre striker, and he’s a target that is probably going to happen in the next days, as I told you.

“But I told you always: right winger, left winger, centre striker. This was what I told you about Tottenham. And for the left winger, the name remains Cody Gakpo.

“Tottenham are working on it. Tottenham are working on the player side. Player terms are not an issue. And then Tottenham remain absolutely on it on the club side with Liverpool.

“So, Gakpo to Tottenham could be over in the next days if the total deal can be agreed.”

If that agreement lands, Liverpool will suddenly have serious room to manoeuvre.

From title high to harsh reality

Gakpo arrived from PSV in January 2023 and played a major role in Liverpool’s 204/25 Premier League title-winning campaign, adapting across the frontline and offering goals and flexibility.

Last season told a different story. The forward struggled to hit those same heights and sections of the fanbase grew louder in their calls for a more ruthless, more explosive option in his place.

That pressure, combined with Liverpool’s aggressive pursuit of wide players, has left Gakpo exposed. If Barcola’s deal can be pushed over the line, the Frenchman is expected to take that left-sided role, with Andoni Iraola also able to call on Rio Ngumoha and Muñoz on that flank.

Liverpool want pace, directness and one-v-one destruction on both wings. Tottenham want Gakpo as the final piece of De Zerbi’s attack.

If the numbers line up in the next few days, one move could unlock the rest of the window for both clubs.