Liverpool’s Trincão Dilemma: A Right Wing Solution
Liverpool’s summer rebuild is already creaking into motion, but one area still glares in red: the right wing. For years it belonged to Mohamed Salah. Now it is a question mark, and time is running out to answer it.
Andoni Iraola will spend pre-season sifting through what he has, weighing who fits, who goes, and who needs replacing. That process is non-negotiable for a club that still talks about winning the Premier League, not just competing in it. But while Iraola assesses, the market moves. Fast. Expensive. Ruthless.
The latest flashpoint sits in Lisbon.
Al-Ahli Close In, Liverpool Watch On
According to A Bola, Al-Ahli’s pursuit of Francisco Trincão is very real and very advanced. The Saudi club and Sporting CP are now only €5 million apart in their valuations of the winger.
Sporting have set a clear price: they expect between €50 million and €60 million. Al-Ahli, whose sporting director is Portuguese executive Rui Pedro Braz, are pushing hard to drag that figure down. Their first approach, not yet a formal offer, effectively put €45 million on the table and was knocked back.
Talks continue, but they are described as slower and more complicated than Atlético Madrid’s negotiations for Morten Hjulmand. Sporting know exactly what they want. Al-Ahli are testing how far they can bend it.
What’s not in doubt is the Saudis’ intent. Al-Ahli have already paid €22 million for attacking midfielder Eduard Spertsyan from Krasnodar. Even after that outlay, their interest in Trincão, now 27, remains strong.
That leaves Liverpool with a simple reality: if they truly see Trincão as a long-term target, this is likely their final opening before he disappears into the Saudi project.
A Vacancy on the Right
Right now, Liverpool’s right flank is a puzzle with missing pieces.
Some supporters clung to the idea of a late twist, a Salah U-turn that would keep the Egyptian at Anfield a little longer. There is no sign that story is coming. The club must plan for life without him.
On paper, the options are thin. Federico Chiesa and Jeremie Frimpong are currently the only recognised candidates for the right side, and even that picture is blurred. Chiesa’s own future at Anfield is uncertain, with the possibility he moves on. Frimpong, by profile, is not a classic wide forward in the Salah mould.
Victor Muñoz can operate on the right, but his best work comes from the left, where he can drive inside and dictate. Using him as a full-time solution on the opposite flank would be a compromise, not a design.
This is not a luxury question for Liverpool. It is structural. Their attack needs a new right-sided forward who can both finish and create, and who fits Iraola’s demands.
Why Trincão Fits the Blueprint
Iraola’s football is not a wild departure from what Liverpool fans have grown used to under Jürgen Klopp and Arne Slot, but the details matter. He wants forwards who can threaten the last line, stretch the pitch, then drift wide to exploit space when needed. Eli Junior Kroupi did that relentlessly across the 2025–26 season, constantly pulling defenders into uncomfortable zones.
A central option like Hugo Ekitike would tick many of those boxes. Alexander Isak, with his blend of movement and finishing, would be an even more complete fit. But on the wings, Iraola demands something extra: creators who also carry a goal threat.
That is where Trincão becomes more than just another name on a shortlist.
Last season, the Portugal international produced 13 goals and 18 assists for Sporting. Those are not decorative numbers; they are the profile of a winger who can tilt games on his own, either by finishing moves or starting them. He is left-footed, operating from the right, cutting inside into the very zones Salah once owned. In stylistic terms, as a Salah successor, he is about as close as Liverpool are likely to find in this window without paying superstar money.
He is also in his prime years. At 26, he offers immediate impact with enough runway to grow inside a new system.
Decision Time at Anfield
Liverpool’s recruitment team have been tracking multiple targets, aware that the market is inflated and that every top Premier League club is hunting in the same pool. That congestion makes hesitation expensive.
With Al-Ahli now at the table and only €5 million separating them from Sporting’s lower-end valuation, the clock is ticking. Once a Saudi deal is agreed, the conversation ends. There is no second bite.
Liverpool must decide what they want their forward line to be under Iraola. Do they build a fluid, interchangeable front three, or do they anchor the right side with a specialist left-footer who can mirror Salah’s influence, if not his legend?
Trincão will not wait forever. Nor will Sporting, once the numbers reach their threshold.
If Liverpool believe he is the answer on that right flank, this is the moment to move, not the moment to watch someone else close the deal.
