Amongst the many weak spots in Liverpool’s squad created by sporting director Richard Hughes in his third summer in charge of the club, right back remains a sore spot. When fit, club trained Connor Bradley remains a top player at the position. Fitness, though, is a serious issue.
Then there’s Hughes’ hand-picked choice for the position and the player meant to be the long-term solution, Jeremie Frimpong, who was signed last summer and continues to appear to be a defensive liability and simply too undersized
to be effective in the role for a top Premier League side.
Despite that, there hasn’t been much chatter around potential signings at the position this summer. At least not until today, aka transfer deadline day. That’s because a wave of reports out of France have the Reds having tried to sign 23-year-old right back Malo Gusto from Chelsea.
Don’t get too excited, though, because the news coming out is that the effort failed as Liverpool were seeking a loan deal while Chelsea only wanted a permanent sale—and having previously quoted Manchester City £75M for Malo Gusto, the Reds weren’t ever interested in permanent.
Gusto has played 134 games for Chelsea across the last three years, stepping up to become de facto first choice right back with Reece James struggling with injuries. He is France’s second choice at the position and can also play on the left. Chelsea signed him from Lyon for £30M in 2023.
