Iraola Faces Liverpool Winger Question After Transfer Window Closes

Liverpool have reached the point Andoni Iraola had been waiting for. The transfer window is closed, his squad is settled and attention can finally return to football. Yet one question remains around the shape of his attack, whether Liverpool have given their head coach the winger balance he wanted.

Speaking to Dave Davis on Anfield Index’s Media Matters podcast, Liverpool reporter David Lynch suggested Iraola will have some disappointment about how the final days unfolded.

“I think without question, and in fact he’s made it clear in several quotes that he made since then really, that he wanted wingers, didn’t he?” Lynch said. “He wanted a couple of wingers.”

Winger Balance Leaves Iraola With A Concern

Bradley Barcola arrived, while Cody Gakpo remained at Liverpool. Lynch believes that outcome changes the context around Iraola’s desire for multiple additions.

“I don’t think he’ll be completely, ‘Oh, this is a disgrace that he didn’t get me these wingers,’ because one of them had to be a Gakpo replacement,” Lynch explained.

However, the balance of Liverpool’s attack remains an issue.

“I think what he will be disappointed by that, of course, my worry about this attack and the way it’s put together really is that he didn’t end up with a more natural option for that right hand side.”

Lynch added: “I think he would have wished to kind of have ended up with a more balanced attack basically, and it didn’t end up that way in the end.”

Gakpo Staying Changes Liverpool Picture

The decision to keep Gakpo matters because Lynch believes Liverpool’s original thinking involved replacing him with another winger.

“I really do think the idea was that he thought, ‘I’ll end up with two new wingers. I’ll lose Gakpo,’ and he was okay with that.”

That scenario never materialised.

“I think there will be a little bit of disappointment he wasn’t able to swap Gakpo for someone who’s maybe more right side, who favours that right side.”

For Iraola, however, September brings certainty.

“The primary thing now is that he’s got to this point now, 2nd of September, that he knows what squad he’s working with and he can go from there.”

Minteh Remains An Interesting Winger Option

One player Lynch would have liked Liverpool to sign was Yankuba Minteh.

“I would have loved Minteh,” he told Davis. “One of my worries is that balance of the attack, kind of that right hand side, to have a left footer there who cuts in.”

Lynch believes Minteh could potentially return to Liverpool’s thinking.

“I think Minteh out of all those is the one I feel that, could they revisit that in January when he’s fit again? That might be a nice option for them.”

Gakpo can operate from the right, but Lynch remains cautious.

“I have a worry he’s going to have some games where he’s not all right there and you kind of see the limitations of it.”

Football Now Provides Iraola’s Answers

Iraola must now find solutions with the players available to him. Lynch sees that process as one of the defining questions ahead.

“How that attack works itself out with no kind of natural right winger in there is interesting,” he said.

Liverpool’s transfer business can no longer be altered. Iraola has Barcola, Gakpo and his other attacking options available, and the discussion can finally move from recruitment to results.

As Lynch put it: “We can all express concerns about things. We can say the things we think are going to be weaknesses, but we all get to find out now.”