Liverpool’s first forward signing of the summer was to bring in left winger Victor Muñoz from Osasuna. Their marquee forward signing of the summer is expected to be to sign left winger Bradley Barcola from Paris Saint-Germain. Both can play on the right but they mostly haven’t so far in their careers.
Meanwhile, it’s star right winger Mohamed Salah who the club headed into the offseason most needing to replace, while talented youngster Rio Ngumoha has also mostly been deployed on the left and Cody
Gakpo—though he may well end up at Tottenham by the close of the transfer window—also, you guessed it, a left winger.
New head coach Andoni Iraola has spoken regularly about wanting his wingers to be able to cover both flanks, but with seemingly everyone on hand being most used to and comfortable on the left, it’s likely somebody is going to have to be the one who shifts over and becomes the nominal first choice on the right.
According to The Times and Paul Joyce, that player is Rio Ngumoha. There has been some speculation over the summer that might be the case, and Ngumoha has been deployed on the right regularly in pre-season, but this is the closest we’ve yet gotten to confirmation from the club that this is explicitly the plan for 2026-27.
Meawwhile, there’s plenty of buzz around the club signing Ibrahim Mbaye from PSG along with Barcola, and in Mbaye’s case the talented 18-year-old is a winger who can play either flank but has primarily lined up on the right in his young career—which could mean teenagers will be the top two options on that side.
Assuming everything shakes out as expected, then, the at least penciled-in depth chart this season could see Barcola and Muñoz on the left and Ngumoha and Mbaye on the right flanking Alexander Isak at centre forward while we all cross our fingers the Swede can stay fit until Hugo Ekitike returns.
With all that in mind, keeping Gakpo at least until January as an emergency option at centre forward could make sense but currently signs are pointing away from that, while Federico Chiesa’s future as a depth forward option also isn’t entirely clear but at the moment he seems more likely to remain than Gakpo.
