Liverpool transfers assessed – right-backs who could solve Andoni Iraola’s problem position

The third part in our series exploring every position Liverpool could look to strengthen in the transfer market

Conor Bradley. Jeremie Frimpong. Joe Gomez. Calvin Ramsay. Dominik Szoboszlai. Wataru Endo. Curtis Jones. Seven players lined up at right-back for Liverpool last season, just three of them natural to the position.

In a season where the Reds were overran in midfield and threadbare at centre-back, unable to control games and chasing a Champions League place, Arne Slot was left with no other option than to shuffle his pack to cover the gaping hole left by injuries to his first-choice pair of Bradley and Frimpong.

All the same, it would have come as little surprise if Richard Hughes and Liverpool’s recruitment team had decided to make do, possibly signing another centre-back to ease the pressure on youngsters Giovanni Leoni and Jeremy Jacquet after the departure of Ibrahima Konate and simply leaning on the versatility of Gomez to cover for the patchy fitness records of Bradley and Frimpong.

Nevertheless, well-placed journalists have consistently been briefed that the positions on the agenda for Liverpool this summer are wide attackers (note the plural), with The Athletic’s James Pearce stating this week that “centre midfield and right-back are also positions that need to be addressed”.

Though the ECHO’s own Paul Gorst wrote last week that he “suspect[s] the club will remain poised to act if they feel a more senior [central] defender is available at a reasonable price,” the priority in the defensive department very much appears to be an out-and-out right-back for now, which starts to make a bit more sense in the light of the demands Andoni Iraola places on his full-backs.

The profile
Liverpool supporters should already have a fairly good idea of the traits Iraola likes to see in his full-backs after the Reds signed his first-choice left back from Bournemouth in 2025 – Milos Kerkez.

Kerkez played a very different role under Slot to that which he played under Iraola when he made the Premier League Team of the Season, however, seeing virtually all of the attributes that made him stand out at Bournemouth reduce in his first season at Liverpool.

Assists, expected assists, chances created, crosses, dribbles attempted, touches in the opposition box, winning possession in the final third – all were down in 2025/26 compared to the Hungarian’s final season on the south coast the year before.