Liverpool's Last Chance for Trincão as Right Flank Needs Solutions

Liverpool’s summer shortlist is long. It has to be. A new era at Anfield is taking shape, and without another smart rebuild, any talk of chasing the Premier League title will stay exactly that – talk.

Andoni Iraola will want to look every player in the eye during pre-season. Assess, prod, test. By the time the final friendly is done, he needs clarity: who stays, who goes, and who comes in to reshape an attack that has lost its old certainty on the right.

The problem is obvious. The market knows it. So do Liverpool’s rivals.

A race against Saudi money

On the right wing, Liverpool are exposed.

Some supporters clung to the idea that Mohamed Salah might yet reverse course and remain at Anfield. All signs suggest otherwise. The club have to plan as if their talisman is gone.

At present, the only established options for that right-sided berth are Federico Chiesa and Jeremie Frimpong. Chiesa’s own future is uncertain, with the Italian potentially heading for the exit. Frimpong, for all his qualities, is more wing-back than wide forward. Victor Muñoz can operate there, but he is far more natural and dangerous from the left.

So the need is clear: a new right-sided forward, and not just any stopgap. A focal point for the next phase of the attack.

Into that gap steps a familiar name: Francisco Trincão.

According to Portuguese outlet A Bola, Liverpool have only a narrow window – essentially until the end of this week – if they want to challenge Al Ahli for the Sporting CP winger. The Saudi club have been pushing hard.

“Al Ahli’s pursuit of Francisco Trincão continues,” the report states. The Saudi side, whose sporting director is Portuguese executive Rui Pedro Braz, are trying to drag the price down from Sporting’s demand of €50–60 million. Sporting have already turned away an opening approach that effectively put €45 million on the table, even before a formal bid arrived.

Negotiations are ongoing, slower than Atlético Madrid’s talks for Morten Hjulmand, and described as “tough”. One side has a fixed idea of value; the other wants a discount. Al Ahli’s interest, though, is said to be “genuine”, even after they spent €22 million to bring in attacking midfielder Eduard Spertsyan from Krasnodar.

The gap between the clubs? Around €5 million. That’s all. A small margin in a market that inflates by the day, but big enough to decide where Trincão plays his football next season.

If Liverpool are serious, this is their opening. Maybe their last.

Iraola’s blueprint and the Salah-sized hole

The debate at Anfield is not just about names. It is about shape, movement, and how Iraola wants his front line to breathe.

The Spaniard’s system shares DNA with the pressing, high-tempo structures used by Jürgen Klopp and Arne Slot, yet there are clear nuances. Iraola’s centre-forwards are asked to break the last line, threaten in behind, and then drift wide when the picture demands it. Eli Junior Kroupi offered that blend of vertical running and flexibility throughout the 2025–26 campaign, a template for what the new coach expects.

That profile points towards strikers like Hugo Ekitike, with his willingness to run channels, or Alexander Isak, who marries movement with ruthless finishing. Both fit the idea of a mobile, line-breaking No 9.

Out wide, the demands are different again. Iraola wants wingers who do not just hug the touchline or simply cut inside to shoot. They must create as well as finish, thread passes as well as take them.

Trincão ticks those boxes. Last season he delivered 13 goals and 18 assists, a return that underlines both end product and vision. He is left-footed, operating from the right, a profile that inevitably draws comparisons with Salah. In terms of stylistic replacement, Liverpool will struggle to find a closer match currently on the market at a remotely attainable fee.

He is also entering his prime years. At 27, he is old enough to carry responsibility, young enough to grow with a new-look forward line.

The question is not whether he fits. The numbers and the role suggest he does. The question is whether Liverpool move quickly enough in a market where hesitation usually gets punished.

Decision time at Anfield

This is what the summer comes down to for Liverpool: a clear decision on what they want their attack to look like, and the courage to act on it before someone else does.

Right now, Al Ahli are at the table with Sporting, haggling over the final €5 million for Trincão. Sporting are holding their line. The Saudis are pushing back. The deal is alive, but fragile.

Liverpool can stay on the sidelines and watch a long-term target vanish to the Saudi Pro League. Or they can step in, define their price, and shape a right flank that currently rests on maybes and makeshifts.

For a club that once built an era around a left-footed right-winger, the next move on Trincão will say plenty about how bold they intend to be in the first true rebuild of the post-Salah age.