Liverpool are racing to strengthen the attack, but the failure to address midfield and right-back leaves major questions over the summer window

I spent most of last night trying to work out how I can be simultaneously encouraged by what Liverpool are trying to do in attack and completely baffled by what they are refusing to do elsewhere. That probably sums up this entire transfer window better than anything else. Bradley Barcola is effectively done, Liverpool are trying to add another two attacking players on top of him, Cody Gakpo looks increasingly likely to leave for Manchester City, and there is genuine movement around names such as Ismaïla Sarr and Yankuba Minteh. Yet somehow we are approaching the final days of the window still without the midfielder this team desperately needs and still without a proper solution at right-back.

That is the contradiction I cannot get past. If Liverpool finish the window with Barcola, Sarr, and another winger, whether that is Minteh or somebody else, I will be honest enough to say the attacking options look good. Barcola, Rio Ngumoha, Victor Muñoz, Sarr, another wide player, and potentially Lewis Koumas gives Iraola genuine variety, while Alexander Isak and eventually Hugo Ekitike cover the central areas. I was also told Liverpool see Barcola as somebody who could operate through the middle when required, particularly if Isak needs a rest. From an attacking perspective, there is logic there.

Two More Attackers Makes Sense, To A Point

The latest information is that Liverpool are trying to bring in two more wide players after Barcola. Sarr appears the most likely at this stage because he is pushing hard for the move and Palace know that. Minteh remains another option, while there has also been speculation around Estêvão after David Woodfine was at Chelsea, and Liverpool were due to hold conversations there. I am not pretending I know whether Estêvão is realistic because I do not. I would bite your hand off for him, but that is very different from saying I expect Chelsea to sell him.

Sarr plus one is the phrase that keeps coming back to me. If that is where this ends, then I can at least see what Liverpool are trying to achieve in attack. It would also take pressure off Rio, which matters to me. He is 18 years old. He should be developed properly and brought into the team when Iraola believes he is ready, not thrown in because Liverpool have failed to give the manager enough senior options. The same applies to Muñoz. I love his attitude already, but there are still rough edges to his game, and that is perfectly normal for a young player adapting to this level.

So yes, give the manager options. Give him pace, versatility, and competition across the front line. I have no argument with that.

My issue is that Liverpool are behaving as if completing the attack somehow solves the squad.

It doesn’t.

Camara For €45m Makes Liverpool Look Even Worse

The Lamine Camara situation really bothers me.

Chelsea have reportedly reached an agreement around €45 million, including add-ons. That is not some absurd figure that puts him completely beyond Liverpool’s reach. We have known the midfield needs help. We have watched Liverpool get played through too easily. We have seen the lack of balance when the game becomes stretched, and we have heard people inside and outside the club acknowledge the issue.

Yet apparently, we are prepared to let Camara go elsewhere.

I cannot defend that.

We had information that Liverpool had done groundwork around him. There was genuine interest. This was not some random social media name somebody pulled from nowhere. Yet when the time came to actually move, Liverpool did not get it done.

The most generous interpretation is that they have a bigger target in mind for next summer and are prepared to roll the dice for a season. Maybe they think Alex Scott or somebody else becomes attainable later. Maybe the incoming ownership group has far bigger ambitions. Fine. But none of that helps Iraola in September.

You still have to qualify for the Champions League to make those grand future plans attractive.

That is what worries me most.

Right-Back Cannot Be Ignored

Then there is Jeremy Frimpong.

Nottingham Forest targeted Liverpool’s right side repeatedly because they clearly believed that was where the weakness was. You did not need a PhD in football analysis to see it. Every time they got possession, they looked towards that channel and tried to attack the space around Frimpong. Liverpool were repeatedly exposed there, and the defensive work simply wasn’t good enough.

I can accept a player having a poor game. What annoyed me far more was seeing him lose possession and not react quickly enough to get back. That cannot happen. You can be beaten for quality. You can make a positional mistake. You cannot switch off from the recovery work.

And this is where the whole recruitment strategy looks even stranger.

Liverpool knew right-back was an issue. There had been an outline agreement with Andrei Rațiu earlier in the window, yet that went nowhere. Other options disappeared. Now we are so close to the deadline that people are genuinely talking about playing Dominik Szoboszlai there as the sensible solution.

The mad thing is, I would probably do it.

I would rather have Szoboszlai at right-back and Alexis Mac Allister alongside Ryan Gravenberch in midfield than keep forcing a setup that clearly isn’t balanced. That is not how a club with Liverpool’s resources should be solving this problem, though. It is improvisation caused by recruitment failure.

Hughes Situation Is Embarrassing

The Richard Hughes story makes all of this look worse.

Reports that he has been working on Liverpool business while also overseeing Al-Hilal’s transfer activity are astonishing. I do not care how anybody wants to dress that up. No serious football club should be in a position where the sporting director is effectively double-jobbing during one of the most important periods of the year.

That is embarrassing.

It also explains some of the feeling around this summer. Everything has felt scattered. There has been quality business, but there has also been a lack of cohesion. Barcola is an excellent signing. The centre-back work has been encouraging. But then you look elsewhere and wonder where the joined-up thinking is.

The good news, if the information I have been given proves correct, is that this structure is changing. FSG’s influence appears to be winding down, and there is a growing expectation that 1892 Holdings and the Bhatia consortium will eventually take much greater control over the football operation.

I am hopeful about that.

But again, tomorrow does not fix today.

Finish The Window, Then Back Iraola

Once this window shuts, I am not going to spend every day moaning about the same thing. I have said my piece throughout the summer. The time to criticise recruitment is while there is still time to fix it. After Tuesday night, my job as a supporter is to get behind Iraola and the squad and hope they can make the best of what they have.

If Liverpool add Barcola, Sarr and another quality winger, I will give them credit for the attack. I would even say that department begins to look genuinely exciting.

But I will not call this a successful window while a glaring midfield problem has been ignored and right-back remains unresolved.

You cannot keep building one half of a team and pretending the other half will somehow look after itself.

Get the forwards in.

Then somebody needs to explain why the two most obvious problems in the squad were allowed to remain.

Much love.