It’s been glaringly obvious for some time now, but Liverpool need a No. 6 to structure their midfield and prevent catastrophe for a second successive season.
Since the start of last season, Liverpool have been caught out by nine fast breaks in the Premier League. No other side have fell to more. For many of the Reds persuasion, it’s been clear that Liverpool have had holes in their team. A lack of physicality and anchoring ability in the centre of the field being one of them.
This remains a horribly imbalanced team. Liverpool have two fast-running full-backs who cannot connect with the widemen in front of them. Then consider a midfield full of energetic carriers, and a playmaker in Florian Wirtz who still can’t manage to take matches by the neck and dominate for his team.
Bradley Barcola remains Liverpool’s dream target, while angry chants for a ball-playing midfielder are intensifying. But FSG have done a few good things, with Victor Munoz showing during his second-half cameo at Newcastle that he has plenty of potential in the Premier League.
How Victor Munoz can become a key figure at Liverpool
Back in June, Liverpool hijacked Newcastle’s move to sign Muno from Osasuna, completing a £35.5m deal after swiping him at the eleventh hour.
The Spanish World Cup winner arrives after one season as a first-team regular in Spain. Before then, the 23-year-old cut his teeth with Real Madrid and earned only a smattering of opportunities.
He is direct and aggressive, and evidence that not every signing needs to be a world-class superstar. He impressed during pre-season and carried that form over to a competitive setting. In Munoz, Liverpool have a prototypical Andoni Iraola winger, and that could bear dividends across the course of the campaign, as we saw when the Reds needed a goal against
Rio Ngumoha was the biggest bright spark on Merseyside last season, but the 17-year-old struggled on the right flank on Sunday. It’s understandable, for he has been reared as a left winger, forced onto the alternate side due to Liverpool’s shortcomings in the transfer market.
These players are bound to play big roles for Liverpool this season, but Liverpool need an actual out-and-out right winger to replace Mohamed Salah on the right wing. They need such a signing now.
How Liverpool could upgrade on Victor Munoz this week
It’s ludicrous that Liverpool are now preparing for the second game of the Iraola era, with points already dropped, and there are glaring issues yet to have been resolved.
Liverpool need a natural right-sider, a left-footed winger to ‘replace’ Salah. In Brighton’s Yankuba Minteh, they may have their man. According to Sky Sports Germany’s Florian Plettenberg, the 22-year-old is FSG’s top priority at this stage of the transfer window, alongside Barcola.
Minteh has already been the subject of two rejected bids from Liverpool, with the Seagulls holding out for £70m. As with Barcola, this one could go down to the wire, but with Plettenberg confirming that Liverpool are targeting multiple signings, there’s a real sense that this one could cross the line, with the winger in question eager to join the Anfield side.
Hailed as a talent who “can reach Sadio Mane level” in the future by one scout, Minteh is the real deal, and though he only scored three times in the Premier League last season, Iraola’s direct style at Liverpool would open up doorways to help him ascend to the next level.
After all, Minteh has the right skillset to fix Liverpool’s right wing concerns, proving an upgrade on someone like Munoz, who is also talented, but more of a left sider, likely to be drafted over to the right with regularity this term only because of necessity. He would fare better in a more comfortable tactical position.
|
League Form 25/26 |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Stats (* per 90) |
Munoz |
Minteh |
|
Matches (starts) |
34 (31) |
34 (26) |
|
Goals + Assists |
6 + 2 |
3 + 4 |
|
Shots (on target)* |
2.4 (0.9) |
1.2 (0.3) |
|
Big chances missed |
9 |
4 |
|
Accurate passes* |
14.8 (81%) |
12.6 (68%) |
|
Big chances created |
2 |
11 |
|
Key passes* |
0.8 |
1.4 |
|
Succ. dribbles* |
2.2 |
1.9 |
|
Recoveries* |
2.8 |
2.8 |
|
Def. contributions* |
1.5 |
2.6 |
|
Duels won* |
4.9 |
4.8 |
Munoz, who is comfortable on the right, but not actually an out-and-out right winger, might be an exciting new attacker on the block, but Minteh would be better suited to playing as Liverpool’s star right sider, more creative and naturally disposed in the role.
He also has a wealth of Premier League experience over the past few years with Brighton that could allow him to dovetail right into the Iraola project on Merseyside – when he bounces back from injury in a few months.
Against Newcastle in the opening game of the season, Liverpool found out that they have plenty to work on, that swapping Slot with Iraola will not cure this outfit of his many different problems.
With little over one week of the summer transfer window remaining, it’s surely crucial that FSG deliver a number of recruits who can settle this new system and provide a foundation from which Iraola can build something fit to last.
Minteh won’t fix everything, but adding him onto the right flank will certainly prove a step in the right direction.
