Liverpool Pursue Malo Gusto as Andoni Iraola Seeks Late Transfer Boost

Liverpool’s window has finally woken up. After weeks of quiet, Andoni Iraola is driving a late surge in recruitment – and it now stretches to one of Chelsea’s most highly rated defenders.

The brief is clear: fix the right side of the defence.

Right-back problem sparks bold move

Since Trent Alexander-Arnold walked away to join Real Madrid on a free last summer, Liverpool have never truly settled on a replacement. The position has been patched together rather than owned.

Dominik Szoboszlai was dragged out of midfield to plug gaps. Jeremie Frimpong and Conor Bradley both endured stop-start campaigns through injury. Frimpong is now seen as first choice, but his game screams wing-back, not orthodox full-back. That tactical nuance matters to Iraola, who wants a specialist.

So Liverpool have turned their gaze to Stamford Bridge.

According to Chelsea insider Simon Phillips, Malo Gusto has emerged as a serious option and is admired not just at Anfield, but also by Tottenham, Bayern Munich and Manchester City. Liverpool see him as the kind of all-action full-back who could lock down the right flank for years.

The catch? The price.

£75m stand-off – but leverage is shifting

Chelsea have been quoting a £75 million fee for the 23-year-old, a figure that already scared off Manchester City, who recently stepped away from talks rather than meet those demands.

That number may not hold.

Phillips reports that Gusto has been pushing to leave Stamford Bridge for the past four months, a key detail that could tilt the balance. A restless player and a crowded squad rarely make for a strong negotiating position, even at Chelsea.

Gusto played 34 Premier League games last season and looked firmly embedded in the first-team picture. Now the landscape has changed. The £47m signing of Marco Palestra from Atalanta has added another obstacle on the right, with the Italian expected to compete with Reece James for a role at right wing-back or even in midfield under Xabi Alonso.

Gusto, once a rising pillar of the project, suddenly looks more like a movable asset.

From Lyon prospect to Premier League prize

Chelsea paid £35m to prise Gusto from Lyon in January 2023, gambling on a raw but fearless teenager. He has grown quickly in England.

The 16-cap France international can operate as a traditional right-back or as a wing-back in more aggressive systems. Across all competitions for Chelsea, he has already racked up 134 appearances, contributing three goals and 17 assists – solid numbers for a defender still learning his craft.

His profile fits the modern blueprint: explosive pace, relentless energy, and a constant urge to join attacks without neglecting the defensive grind. At Anfield, he would not simply back up Frimpong; he would challenge him. Hard.

For Iraola, that kind of internal competition on the flanks is non-negotiable.

Liverpool’s wider plan: attack and defence in sync

This pursuit of Gusto runs alongside Liverpool’s headline chase for Bradley Barcola, with the club still locked onto the Paris Saint-Germain winger as their primary attacking target. PSG’s £145m valuation remains a major barrier, and Liverpool will not move unless that figure drops.

The strategy is obvious: a new winger to scrap with Rio Ngumoha and Cody Gakpo, a new right-back to drive standards up behind Frimpong. Two new lanes of speed and aggression down the right side of the pitch.

The groundwork has already been laid elsewhere. Victor Munoz arrived from Osasuna for £34.5m, and Ronald Araujo has joined on a season-long loan from Barcelona. Yet inside the club, there is no sense that the job is close to done. Iraola wants more, and he wants it quickly, with just over two weeks left in the window.

Right now, the only real obstacle between Liverpool and a serious move for Malo Gusto is that £75m valuation. If Chelsea blink and the price drops, the decision shifts to the player.

Does he stay and fight a three-way battle for minutes in West London – or step into a central role in Iraola’s Anfield rebuild?