Andoni Iraola says signing another winger remains Liverpool’s priority in the transfer market.
World Cup winner Victor Munoz was bought from Osasuna for £34million last month but they have yet to replace Mohamed Salah, who left the club at the end of last season.
With Andy Robertson and Ibrahima Konate have also moved on, it’s a squad in urgent need of strengthening with Iraola admitting the injury situation has left them “thin” defensively.
Speaking at a press conference in Chicago at the start of the club’s pre-season tour of the US, Iraola was asked many new players he ideally wanted on board for the challenges ahead.
“It is difficult to say a number when the market is open,” he said. “You have to be always open to new options to improve the squad. There are obvious situations where we know we need to sign players. Winger, for example. We definitely need to sign a winger.
“The other situations, we will have to analyse what the market gives you, what the cost is, how we also see the players we have. We have some tricky positions where we have injured players that we trust that are not in the ideal situation.”
Midfielder Alexis Mac Allister has been linked with a move to Spain but the new head coach is counting on him for the upcoming season. Alisson attracted interest from Juventus earlier in the window but the Brazilian goalkeeper is staying put.
“Alexis has been one of the best players in the club in the last years,” he added. “He had a very good World Cup so it is normal that other clubs want our best players. It always happens in the market. I want to keep my good players. I am looking more to sign new players than losing the ones we have.
“Alisson is someone important for us in the changing room in terms of his experience. He will help us in the process of adaptation for the new players and the young players. You need references like Virgil (van Dijk), Alisson and Joe Gomez.”
Iraola has said Alisson will stay (Carl Recine/Getty Images)
Right-back was a problem position for Liverpool last season and it remains a headache with Conor Bradley set to be absent for the opening months of the season as he continues his recovery from a serious knee injury. Asked if he felt Liverpool needed to recruit in that area, Iraola said: “I think it depends on the Conor situation.
“If you have a fully fit, healthy Conor Bradley, we are very happy, ready to go, and we would not be asking ourselves these questions. It’s a situation that is tricky because we trust Conor in the long term, we want him to be our right-back, but right now he is still a little bit far from returning, so with the centre back, with the right back situation, in terms of defensive depth, we are very thin right now.
“We have three serious injuries. The closest one to return is Giovanni Leoni. Then Conor and Hugo (Ekitike), but the last two are way off – we’re talking about months.”
Liverpool will train in Chicago this week before travelling to Nashville for Saturday’s opening friendly against Sunderland. Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and Ryan Gravenberch, who all went out of the World Cup at the last-32 stage, will link up with the squad prior to the second game against Wrexham in New York.
However, Van Dijk, Cody Gakpo and Alisson won’t be travelling to the US with Iraola deciding that they will start their pre-season at Kirkby instead.
“With Virgil, he was the player who played the most minutes in Europe I’d say last season,” Iraola said. “Instead of making them come here we decided it was sensible for them to start as part of a small group at the AXA.
“The most difficult situations logically will be Alexis and Victor because they played until the end of the tournament. I think they deserve their holidays and some rest, and I hope they have time at least to train with us a little bit. But it is true that it will probably affect a little bit the beginning of the season, but we cannot only think in the short term in terms of the first game against Newcastle.”
Iraola described Dominik Szoboszlai signing a new five-year contract as “the greatest news since I arrived”. However, he has yet to decide who to appoint as the new vice-captain following Robertson’s exit.
