Liverpool's Urgent Need for Trincão on the Right Wing

Liverpool’s summer is crowded with names, ideas and possibilities. A long shortlist, a new head coach in Andoni Iraola, and a familiar objective: build a side capable of chasing down the Premier League title again.

The problem is clear enough. The clock is not on their side, and neither is the market.

A right flank in limbo

For years, Liverpool didn’t have to think about the right wing. Mohamed Salah owned it. He defined games, seasons, eras.

Now the club are staring at a very different landscape. Hopes that Salah might dramatically reverse course and stay at Anfield have faded. The reality: Liverpool’s right-hand side is a problem that can’t be wished away.

At present, the options there are thin. Federico Chiesa and Jeremie Frimpong are the only recognised candidates for that flank, and even that feels unstable. Chiesa could yet leave Anfield, which would strip the depth chart even further. Victor Muñoz can operate on the right, but his best work comes off the left, where he can drive inside and dictate.

So the need is obvious. Liverpool require a new right-sided forward who can step into a central role in the attack, not just pad out the numbers.

Trincão: a long-term target under pressure

Into that gap steps Francisco Trincão – or at least, he could, if Liverpool move quickly enough.

According to Portuguese outlet A Bola, Al Ahli’s pursuit of the Sporting CP winger is already well advanced. The Saudi club have pushed to bring him in but want a deal below Sporting’s asking price of €50 million. Sporting, for their part, are holding firm. Their expectation sits between €50m and €60m, and they have already turned away an initial approach that effectively put €45m on the table, even without a formal bid lodged.

Negotiations are ongoing, described as slower than Atlético Madrid’s talks for Morten Hjulmand and likely to be difficult. Sporting know their number. Al Ahli, led by sporting director Rui Pedro Braz, are determined to drag it down. Their interest remains strong even after signing attacking midfielder Eduard Spertsyan from Krasnodar for €22m.

The gap between the clubs? Just €5m. In a normal market, that might be bridged in a single call. In this one, it represents a crucial window for any rival – including Liverpool – to make their move before the deal hardens into something inevitable.

A Bola’s line is stark: Liverpool may only have until the end of the week if they want to enter the race seriously for a player they have monitored for some time.

Iraola’s blueprint and the Salah question

This isn’t just about filling a vacancy. It’s about identity.

Iraola’s system has echoes of Jürgen Klopp and Arne Slot, but the similarities only go so far. The Spaniard wants forwards who can break the last line, stretch defences and then drift wide to create overloads. Eli Junior Kroupi offered that profile throughout the 2025–26 campaign, constantly threatening in behind and then peeling into the channels.

Names like Hugo Ekitike and Alexander Isak fit that central template: mobile, vertical, ruthless when space opens up. But on the wings, Iraola demands more than pure runners. He wants wide forwards who can both score and supply, players who can flip roles in a heartbeat – creator one minute, finisher the next.

This is where Trincão starts to look less like a luxury and more like a solution.

Last season, the Portugal international delivered 13 goals and 18 assists. That is not a winger who merely hugs the touchline and waits. Those numbers speak to a player who lives in decisive zones, who sees passes and arrives in scoring positions with regularity.

Crucially, he is left-footed. For a club trying to move on from Salah without losing that signature inside-cut threat from the right, that matters. Trincão can receive wide, drive infield onto his stronger foot and either shoot or slide runners in behind. Stylistically, in terms of profile, he is as close to a like-for-like replacement as Liverpool are likely to find in this window without entering the stratosphere of fees.

One last chance to act

Liverpool’s recruitment team know the stakes. The right wing cannot be patched together with stop-gaps if the club are serious about a title push. Iraola must leave pre-season with clarity: who stays, who goes, and who leads his new-look attack.

By the end of the summer, the forward line will define this rebuild. Does Liverpool lean into a fluid, interchanging front three? Do they prioritise a central striker or a wide creator? Every decision they make now will ripple through the season.

Trincão ticks the boxes: output, profile, age, footedness. The price is high but defined. The competition is real but not yet decisive. Al Ahli and Sporting are only €5m apart. That narrow gap is both a warning and an invitation.

If Liverpool truly see him as a long-term answer on the right, this is the moment to step in. Wait too long, and the door will not just close – it will slam shut on a flank they can least afford to leave unresolved.