Liverpool Targeting Andrei Rațiu for Right-Back Rebuild

Liverpool are preparing an opening offer for Rayo Vallecano defender Andrei Rațiu as Andoni Iraola targets a decisive upgrade in a position that derailed the club’s season.

The Rayo right-back, 28, has emerged as a serious candidate to bolster a department that has never truly recovered from Trent Alexander-Arnold’s departure to Real Madrid. With Jeremie Frimpong and Conor Bradley both hit by injuries last year, Liverpool lurched from one makeshift solution to another. It cost them rhythm. It cost them points.

Iraola, backed strongly already with the capture of Victor Munoz from Osasuna, is turning to La Liga again. This time, his focus is on a player he believes can walk straight into the intensity of the Premier League.

Rațiu: La Liga’s quiet constant

Rațiu is not a headline name. That is precisely the point.

Across three seasons at Rayo Vallecano, he has quietly stacked up 102 league appearances, becoming one of the most reliable right-backs in Spain. Within La Liga circles he is widely viewed as one of the division’s most underrated defenders, a full-back whose consistency has outstripped his profile.

On the international stage, the Romanian has amassed 38 caps and carries the distinction of having been named Romanian Footballer of the Year. He also played a central role in Rayo’s run to the UEFA Conference League final earlier this year, where they fell to Crystal Palace. That European campaign hardened his reputation as a defender who relishes big occasions rather than shrinks from them.

According to SportsBoom, Iraola sees Rațiu as ideal value in a distorted market: experienced, durable, and good enough to compete for minutes immediately. Frimpong is still expected to start next season as first-choice right-back, but the Liverpool manager wants a genuine challenger, not just cover. In his view, Rațiu fits that brief.

The question hangs over what this would mean for academy graduate Bradley, who has already shown he can operate at Premier League level. For now, Liverpool are pushing on with the plan.

£25m price tag and a tough negotiator

Rayo Vallecano are in no rush to sell. Rațiu signed a new long-term deal in November 2025, tying him to the club for another four years and placing the La Liga side in a strong position at the negotiating table.

The expectation is clear: any deal will start around £25 million. Liverpool, for their part, believe they can construct an offer that satisfies those demands, likely by structuring the bid with significant add-ons to tempt Rayo into doing business.

The stance from Spain is firm. The stance from Merseyside is equally clear: Rațiu is a target they think is worth pushing for.

Lessons from a broken right flank

Last season exposed the fragility of Liverpool’s right side in brutal fashion. Once Alexander-Arnold walked away at the end of his contract, the margin for error vanished. When injuries hit Frimpong and Bradley, Arne Slot had to improvise.

Curtis Jones and Dominik Szoboszlai both spent time filling in as auxiliary right-backs. Each emergency solution solved one problem and created another, stripping Liverpool’s midfield of control and creativity just as their campaign began to unravel. The imbalance was obvious. Opponents targeted it. Liverpool paid the price.

It is no surprise, then, that Iraola has made the role a priority in his first summer at Anfield. The club hierarchy has already shown a willingness to move decisively in the market. Rațiu is the next step in that correction.

Jacquet and Leoni boost defensive rebuild

Rațiu would not arrive into a static back line. Liverpool’s defensive reshaping is already well underway.

The club will formally unveil another signing next week when Jeremy Jacquet completes his £55 million move from Rennes. The French defender agreed the transfer on winter deadline day, with all parties deciding he would finish the season in Ligue 1 before heading to the Premier League.

There was early concern when Jacquet suffered a serious shoulder injury soon after his move was announced. According to The Athletic, his rehabilitation is progressing as planned and he is expected to be ready for initial pre-season testing early next month. Liverpool are hopeful he will be fit for the start of full pre-season training, giving Iraola a powerful new option in central defence.

Alongside him, Giovanni Leoni is also closing in on a return. The 19-year-old centre-back tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee on his debut against Southampton in the Carabao Cup last September and has not played since. He, too, is understood to be on track for the opening of pre-season.

A fit Jacquet. A returning Leoni. A potential move for Rațiu. Piece by piece, Liverpool are trying to ensure that what happened to their defence last season does not happen again.

The next move now rests in the hands of Rayo Vallecano. Will they cash in on one of La Liga’s most dependable full-backs, or force Liverpool to look elsewhere in a market where genuine value is increasingly hard to find?