Liverpool's Transfer Window: The Search for Salah's Successor

Andoni Iraola has just had his first real taste of the Liverpool transfer circus. Tension. Expectation. Let-down. All crammed into one fraught summer.

The 43-year-old walked out of the window with three new senior faces in Victor Munoz, Ronald Araujo and Bradley Barcola, plus the long‑planned arrival of Jeremy Jacquet, a deal agreed under Arne Slot. On paper, that is a solid haul. In reality, it came with one glaring omission.

Liverpool did not get their right-winger to replace Mohamed Salah.

For a club that has built so much of its modern identity around the Egyptian, that is no small gap. Iraola and the recruitment team pushed, circled targets, made offers. The position remained unfilled when the deadline slammed shut.

Yet the story of this window has not finished. Not quite.

Minteh chase not over

Yankuba Minteh was supposed to be the answer. Liverpool moved hard for the Brighton winger late in the window, identifying the 22-year-old as the man to take on Salah’s old flank.

Brighton stood firm.

The Seagulls rejected offers of £50 million and £60m from Liverpool, refusing to blink as the deadline loomed. Minteh stayed at the Amex Stadium, his future parked until at least January.

Now, though, Iraola has been handed a sliver of encouragement.

Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler has opened the door, just a fraction, to a winter exit. Speaking about Minteh’s situation, the 33-year-old said: "If the whole team is successful and the individual shines then Yankuba will get a lot of attention again and he can then maybe fulfil his dream in the next transfer window."

It is hardly a come-and-get-him plea, but it is a public acknowledgement that Minteh’s ambitions may lie elsewhere and that Brighton will listen if the conditions are right. For Liverpool, who have already tested the waters with two huge bids, that comment will not go unnoticed.

The chase for a Salah successor, then, looks set to roll into January.

N'Guessan deal quietly wrapped up

While the deadline-day drama around Bradley Barcola dominated headlines and frayed nerves, another Liverpool move slipped through with far less noise.

Days after the window shut on September 1, the club confirmed an agreement to sign Djylian N'Guessan from Saint-Etienne.

The deal, officially announced on Friday, will see the 18-year-old forward join Liverpool permanently in January for around £4.3 million. Rather than heading straight to Anfield, N'Guessan will continue his development in France, having been loaned to Ligue 1 side Stade Brestois for the 2026/27 campaign.

It is a long-term play, not a quick fix.

N'Guessan has already tasted senior football, making 13 appearances for Saint-Etienne and scoring once. On the international stage, he featured seven times for France at last year’s U20 World Cup, helping them to a fourth-place finish and underlining his status as one of the more intriguing young forwards in his age group.

For Iraola, the picture is clear. The immediate hole on the right wing remains, the January window looms with Minteh back on the radar, and a teenager in N'Guessan is locked in for the future.

Liverpool have backed their new manager through a bruising first window. The question now is whether the next one finally delivers the wide forward who can carry the weight of Salah’s shadow.