backs who could solve Andoni Iraola's problem position

Conor Bradley. Jeremie Frimpong. Joe Gomez. Calvin Ramsay. Dominik Szoboszlai. Wataru Endo. Curtis Jones. Seven players lined up at right-back for Liverpool last season, just three of them natural to the position.

In a season where the Reds were overran in midfield and threadbare at centre-back, unable to control games and chasing a Champions League place, Arne Slot was left with no other option than to shuffle his pack to cover the gaping hole left by injuries to his first-choice pair of Bradley and Frimpong.

All the same, it would have come as little surprise if Richard Hughes and Liverpool's recruitment team had decided to make do, possibly signing another centre-back to ease the pressure on youngsters Giovanni Leoni and Jeremy Jacquet after the departure of Ibrahima Konate and simply leaning on the versatility of Gomez to cover for the patchy fitness records of Bradley and Frimpong.

Nevertheless, well-placed journalists have consistently been briefed that the positions on the agenda for Liverpool this summer are wide attackers (note the plural), with The Athletic's James Pearce stating this week that "centre midfield and right-back are also positions that need to be addressed".

Though the ECHO's own Paul Gorst wrote last week that he "suspect[s] the club will remain poised to act if they feel a more senior [central] defender is available at a reasonable price," the priority in the defensive department very much appears to be an out-and-out right-back for now, which starts to make a bit more sense in the light of the demands Andoni Iraola places on his full-backs.

The profile

Liverpool supporters should already have a fairly good idea of the traits Iraola likes to see in his full-backs after the Reds signed his first-choice left back from Bournemouth in 2025 - Milos Kerkez.

Kerkez played a very different role under Slot to that which he played under Iraola when he made the Premier League Team of the Season, however, seeing virtually all of the attributes that made him stand out at Bournemouth reduce in his first season at Liverpool.

Assists, expected assists, chances created, crosses, dribbles attempted, touches in the opposition box, winning possession in the final third - all were down in 2025/26 compared to the Hungarian's final season on the south coast the year before.

Slot liked his full-backs to play deep and narrow, supporting build-up and not really getting involved in attacks until the final phase - if at all.

Iraola is the opposite. His full-backs play higher and wider in possession and, like his entire team, play an important role in his hybrid pressing structure - laying traps for the opposition by holding a compact defensive shape before jumping up into a man-marking system as a unit.

This means Iraola's full-backs must be able to go head-to-head with opposition wingers rather than backing off. Winning duels is important, but so is being able to force those wingers into tracking back by supporting attacks on the overlap and underlap.

One right-back who will not be a candidate is Iraola's first-choice right-back last season, Alex Jimenez - for fairly obvious, yet legally sensitive, reasons.

Jimenez is a good yardstick to use here, though (which, ironically, probably isn't the first time he's been called a tool). The Spanish defender completed more dribbles than 96% of all other Premier League full-backs last season (39), with a none-too-shabby success rate of 52.0%.

He was also in the top 10% for recoveries (135) and the top 15% for possession won in the final third (10). Though Jimenez didn't manage any assists, or put in anywhere near as many crosses as Kerkez the previous season, he completed a dribble nearly three times as often per 90 as Kerkez did that year (1.51 compared to Kerkez's 0.59) - demonstrating that, if nothing else, Iraola wants his full-backs to attack.

It's fair to say this should suit Frimpong, who completed 1.56 dribbles per 90 last season, better than Slot's football. But the former Bayer Leverkusen man was defensively suspect and unable to lock down his side of the pitch last season, only completing 0.52 interceptions per 90 (less than half of Jimenez's 1.05) and fewer defensive contributions per 90 (2.60) than 99% of all other Premier League full-backs.

If Liverpool are looking to upgrade - which it seems they are - it will be the defensive side of the game that needs improvement, not least because the Reds look likely to line up with a youngster at centre-back and a right-footer on the right wing.

But that threat level and attacking drive is non-negotiable.

OPINION

Honourable mentions

I actually tipped Julian Ryerson as an option in our Liverpool FC writers' roundtable this week, after the Borussia Dortmund wing-back managed to rack up 18 assists in all competitions last season, but on closer inspection it's more apparent why Sky Germany's Florian Plettenberg dismissed the 28-year-old as an option back in January.

Ryerson was the only player I profiled for this piece to win less than 40% of his duels last season - a concerning statistic when you consider the more intense nature of the Premier League and the lack of scope for improvement given Ryerson's age.

Nevertheless, he was by far the most difficult player to leave out given his tremendous assist numbers.

Tino Livramento would be an obvious choice, and would put a nice tick in the homegrown box. But though it might be amusing for Liverpool to torment Newcastle United yet again, there's no getting around his troubling injury record.

Livramento's departure from the England camp ahead of the game against Croatia was the fifth injury he has picked up since the end of September 2025, missing 174 days of action during that time.

Coupled with his price tag, believed to be at least £60m, it's easy to see why talk of interest from Arsenal and Man City has cooled in recent weeks.

Pedro Porro could have been a real contender had Spurs gone down, offering plenty of creativity from right-back, but the 26-year-old signed a new contract just last week to stay in north London until 2031 - each to their own, I suppose.

Meanwhile, other homegrown options Ola Aina and Djed Spence are decent players, but neither of them offered enough going forward for me to consider them a serious option to start in the biggest of games for Liverpool.

Spence has time on his side, at least. His 1.44 dribbles per 90 in the league last season - and his reduced opportunities for minutes after Porro's new contract and Andy Robertson's switch to Spurs - does make me wonder if he might have been a target for Bournemouth if Iraola had stayed there but, as likeable as he seems, I don't think he's quite at the level for the Reds.

Sorry, Djed.

The 10 candidates

This time around, there were far less rumours to sift through in terms of existing targets - so this required getting a bit more creative. The only names with any sniff of a Liverpool link around them were Michael Kayode, Marco Palestra, Vanderson and Amar Dedic - though nothing remotely concrete has emerged on any of them.

Kayode impressed at Brentford last season and would likely be the most expensive option on this list given his Premier League experience.

Palestra is currently the subject of an approach from an Inter, so Liverpool would have to act fast if they do have genuine interest in the Italian international, who spent last season on loan at Cagliari from Atalanta.

Vanderson and Dedic, meanwhile, were rumoured to be on the list of candidates to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold last summer. Both could be available for lower fees than Italians Kayode and Palestra, but are well-established players for Monaco and Benfica respectively with over 400 combined appearances.

Fleshing out the group of candidates are six players I chose for their attributes and performance levels last season who all could be deemed realistic targets: Neco Williams (Nottingham Forest), Mats Wieffer (Brighton), Guela Doue (Strasbourg), Juanlu Sanchez (Sevilla), Alberto Costa (Porto) and Malo Gusto (Chelsea).

Gusto could arguably not be considered realistic, but French outlet L'Equipe recently reported he could leave this summer. Gusto will face renewed competition from Chelsea club captain Reece James next season and at 23, he will be eager to play as regularly as possible to boost his standing at international level - where he is currently behind Jules Kounde at right-back for France.

So, how do these right-backs compare and which one could be the ideal target for Iraola's Liverpool?

Passing

Creativity is not the be-all and end-all when it comes to signing a right-back. But while Liverpool were never going to replace Trent's numbers at his best, it's important that whoever the Reds target can give the opposition something to worry about on the ball.

In this respect, there's one clear winner in the underlying numbers - Monaco's Brazilian right-back, Vanderson. At 1.62 chances created per 90 (0.44 of which are classified as 'big chances'), the 24-year-old creates more than any other player here and assisted at a rate of better than one every four games.

If not for a pair of hamstring injuries - one in October/November and one in March that kept him out until the end of the season - Vanderson could have expected to make far more than the seven league starts he managed and would have been in the conversation to start at right-back for Brazil at the World Cup this summer.

Instead, Vanderson has been left out entirely. A campaign so affected by injuries is a big concern, but Vanderson didn't miss any games through injury in 2024/25, a season in which he managed two goals and five assists - two of which came in the Champions League.

Alternatively, Porto's Alberto Costa also created plenty, with an even better assists per 90 (0.32) and 1.14 big chances created per 90. The 22-year-old Costa only signed from Juventus last summer but has enjoyed his most productive season with nine assists.

Porto would surely expect to double their money on the €15m they paid to Juve if he were to move again this summer.

For more crossing-focused options, which could serve Alexander Isak well, Juanlu Sanchez and Guela Doue stand out. Sanchez was not a nailed-on starter for Sevilla last season, battling with Jose Angel Carmona, but put up excellent crossing numbers when he did play - completing 0.90 crosses per 90 with an accuracy of 32.8% - the most accurate of any player represented here.

Doue was close behind, though, completing 32.7% of his crosses at a slightly lower rate of 0.74 per 90. Desire Doue's brother, Guela starts for the Ivory Coast and showed his class behind Yan Diomande against Ecuador on Monday (June 15).

If Liverpool do land Diomande, having had their first bid worth €100m rejected on Thursday (June 18), it could make sense to develop that partnership further at club level and lean into Doue's solidity in build-up (87.1% pass completion is the highest here) to unleash Diomande for Liverpool.

None of these players are bad - in fact, this is possibly the most even crop of players assessed in this series yet - but Mats Wieffer is noticeably the weakest among his peers in terms of crossing, completing just 0.14 crosses per 90 at a rate of 18.8% success.

As a former midfielder, though, he is comfortable on the ball and still created 0.94 chances per 90 last season - the same as the much-fancied Kayode, who is five years his junior.

Kayode's xA (expected assists - 0.08) and big chances created per 90 (0.11) are the lowest here, but 25% cross completion is respectable and offers signs of potential to improve, though two other Premier League options in Gusto and Williams currently offer more.

Possession

The other way in which Iraola's full-backs will be able to influence games offensively is in possession of the ball, specifically when carrying it up the pitch directly.

Palestra stands out here. He gets through a lot more dribbles (2.04 successful per 90) and duels (7.24 won per 90) than anyone else here and he wins a whopping great proportion of those duels (59.6%).

Despite his high dribbling numbers, Palestra is also dispossessed the second least (0.67 times per 90) of anyone here behind Gusto (0.64), which is striking considering how often he's taking people on.

It's easy to see why Palestra is so fancied, and with that level of technicality you would expect he could add creativity with time - he's the youngest player on this whole list.

If Liverpool feel the same, an approach will have to come soon - in the next few hours or days, really - and it will need to be another hijack, as Fabrizio Romano confirmed on Thursday (June 18) that Inter are expected to wrap up a deal for him soon.

If Iraola fancies a similar profile, but Palestra is set on remaining in Italy, his compatriot Kayode has similar traits and has already proven his ability to produce those numbers in the Premier League.

Kayode completed 1.52 dribbles per 90 last season at a comparable success rate of 51.4%. His duels are even more impressive, combining 57.7% duel success with a 60.3% aerial duel success rate.

Another high-volume dribbler is Dedic, who completed 1.61 dribbles per 90 in Liga Portugal, beating his man 53.1% of the time. Guela Doue, meanwhile, enjoyed the highest success rate on the dribble overall (54.5%) but took fewer risks, only completing 0.79 dribbles per game at Strasbourg.

Doue's duel success also bodes very well, winning 53.2% of his duels and a massive (for a full-back) 63.7% of his aerial duels. Vanderson, despite being the shortest of these players at 5'8", won 10 of the 12 aerial duels he contested in Ligue 1 last season, showing a strong level of aggression to match his technicality - though his 46.9% success rate from the previous season is perhaps a more realistic reflection of his aerial ability.

Defending

With Liverpool seemingly looking to upgrade on Frimpong, being a strong defender is of the utmost importance for any prospective new right-back. This isn't always easy to discern from publicly-available stats, but there are a few things that jump out.

Wieffer's overall defensive contributions stand out immediately, with the Dutchman (who played under Slot at Feyenoord and was linked ahead of his Brighton move during the former manager's first transfer window) making 12.8 defensive contributions per 90.

A sizeable number of these interventions (0.47) involved Wieffer winning possession in the final third, though Wieffer was also dribbled past more than any other of these players on a per 90 basis (1.65).

Sanchez was the next closest for this dubious honour, being dribbled past 1.4 times per 90, but he made only 4.83 defensive contributions per 90 and less than half as many interceptions (0.54) as Wieffer (1.18).

Wieffer also picked up 0.38 yellow cards per 90 - roughly two every five games - which isn't ideal given the increased risk of suspension considering Liverpool need a player who can be consistently available.

Costa was dribbled past least often (0.48 times per 90), though this might actually be less impressive than Palestra's record (0.58) given the latter played at 14th-placed finishers Cagliari rather than Portuguese champions Porto.

Costa also consistently made the most fouls at 2.42 per 90, which could be cause for concern, while Doue (1.83 per 90) and Vanderson (2.2 per 90) also made a lot of fouls.

Again, Vanderson's high scores (11.5 defensive contributions per 90, 3.38 interceptions per 90) could be skewed by his limited minutes, but he also ranked highly for interceptions the previous season with 1.69 per 90.

Neco Williams made the next highest number of interceptions per 90 (1.32). Liverpool supporters will remember the Welshman's suitability for the intensity of high-pressing football from his time at the club under Jurgen Klopp, and his all-round development since joining Forest makes him a solid contender - though he doesn't stand out in as many areas as other candidates.

For winning possession high up, Dedic is the standout candidate, doing so 0.66 times per 90 for Benfica last season and only being beaten on the dribble 0.66 times per 90 too.

The verdict

This might just be the toughest call of the entire series. Most of these players are operating on a similar level, so potential and tactical fit feel like the decisive considerations.

Assuming it is too late to go in for Marco Palestra, Michael Kayode is clearly the standout as an Iraola signing given his aggression in the duel and ability to carry the ball forward on the dribble.

At 21, Kayode has plenty of room to improve and should be able to build on his already-impressive crossing ability, picking up more assists as part a more dominant team.

His transfer fee could be a sticking point, though. At £50-60m, it would be a large outlay for a right-back during a summer in which Liverpool need major surgery in various departments of the team.

Gusto or Williams would likely be available for less if Liverpool want to prioritise experience in England, but for real value it could be wiser to look outside the Premier League for a bargain signing with plenty of upside.

While Iraola is bedding in a new pair of centre-backs, a strong right-back who is unlikely to be beaten could be a sensible move. Alberto Costa should offer this without sacrificing too much attacking threat, and if the Reds could land him for a fee in the region of £25m he could be a quietly brilliant signing.

Guela Doue looks like a player who could thrive in a front-footed defensive role with his size and ability to win duels, and has enough quality on the ball to potentially play a more aggressive attacking game in a new system - with plenty of time to adapt still being aged 23.

A riskier move, but one with the capacity to pay off in spades, would be Monaco's Vanderson. If - and it's a big if - his injury woes prove to be a one-season blip rather than his new normal, there is no better attacking full-back on the market, and his transfer fee would be unlikely to break the bank.

My money would be on a more attack-minded player, with Iraola likely to prioritise these traits and trust in his own ability to coach a more progressive player into one capable of operating as part of a well-organised defensive structure.

Dedic, being familiar with a high-pressing game, would appear on the surface to tick the most boxes. With 235 appearances, he is also the most experienced option despite only being 23 years of age - but a failed move to Marseille last January could raise major doubts over his ability to adapt to a top five European league.

You wouldn't bet against Liverpool just going for the best-in-class and picking Kayode in the knowledge he has already produced in the Premier League regardless of outlay, though this will surely be affected by how much the Reds end up spending on their top attacking target.

Just 21 and already putting up huge numbers in terms of dribbling and winning duels, Kayode would be an exciting signing. That's without even mentioning his penchant for an enormous long throw, which - like it or not - proved very handy for Brentford and will likely continue to be a valuable weapon in the Premier League next season.

Whatever Liverpool choose to do, Iraola's involvement in the purchase of Victor Munoz would suggest he's likely to have a large say - so we could learn plenty about how the Basque will set Liverpool up from the profile of right-back the club end up opting for.

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