Liverpool's Right-Wing Dilemma: The Case for Trincão
Liverpool’s summer is already crowded with names, numbers and scenarios. A rebuild is coming – it has to – if Anfield is to host a genuine Premier League title challenge rather than just the noise of one.
Andoni Iraola will take his time in public. He will talk about assessing the squad, about opportunities in pre-season, about clean slates. Behind the scenes, the clock is louder. By the end of the summer’s friendlies he must know, with clarity, who stays, who goes, and who walks through the door to reshape his attack.
The problem is obvious. So is the competition. Most of the Premier League is shopping in the same aisle, chasing the same profiles, in a market that seems to grow more inflated by the day. Every hesitation carries a price.
Right now, that hesitation might cost Liverpool Francisco Trincão.
A Narrow Gap and a Narrow Window
In Portugal, the situation is clear. Sporting CP have set their price. Al-Ahli have drawn their line. According to A Bola, the Saudi club’s pursuit of Trincão is ongoing, but they are pushing hard to bring the fee down.
Sporting want between €50m and €60m. Al-Ahli have effectively put €45m on the table in an initial approach, short of a formal offer, and seen it rebuffed. The gap is just €5m at the lower end – not much in this market, but enough to drag talks out.
Negotiations continue, slower than Atlético Madrid’s move for Morten Hjulmand, and the expectation is that they will be difficult. Sporting have a firm valuation and no intention of blinking first. Al-Ahli, led by sporting director Rui Pedro Braz, are determined to shave the price down, even after spending €22m on attacking midfielder Eduard Spertsyan from Krasnodar.
What matters for Liverpool is the timing. The report suggests there may only be until the end of the week for any serious rival to step in before the deal tilts decisively towards Saudi Arabia. For a club that has tracked Trincão for some time, this looks like a final opening rather than a fresh start.
Life After Salah: A Void on the Right
Liverpool’s right flank is no longer a puzzle for the future. It is a problem for the present.
Some supporters clung to the idea of a Mohamed Salah U-turn, a late decision to stay at Anfield and stretch one of the great modern Liverpool stories a little further. That hope has faded. Planning now has to assume a post-Salah attack.
On paper, the options are thin. Federico Chiesa and Jeremie Frimpong are the standout possibilities currently associated with that right side, but Chiesa’s own future at Anfield is uncertain, his name never far from the “could leave” column. Frimpong, a wing-back by trade, offers pace and penetration but represents a different kind of solution.
Victor Muñoz can operate on the right, but his best work comes from the left, where he can open the pitch and drive inside. Shunting him across feels like a compromise, not a plan.
So the need is stark: a right-sided forward, comfortable on the ball, dangerous in the final third, capable of carrying both creation and goals. For months, that profile has had Trincão’s name attached to it.
Why Trincão Fits Iraola’s Blueprint
Iraola’s football is often filed under the same category as Jürgen Klopp and Arne Slot – high tempo, aggressive, vertical. The similarities are real, but the details matter.
He wants forwards who can threaten the last line, stretch defences, then drift wide to open space, much like Eli Junior Kroupi did so effectively across the 2025–26 season. The central options linked – someone like Hugo Ekitike, and at an even higher level Alexander Isak – reflect that desire for movement and flexibility through the middle.
Out wide, Iraola’s demands sharpen. His wingers must not only finish moves, but start them. They have to create as much as they score, carry the ball, combine, and punish teams that overcommit.
Trincão ticks those boxes. Last season he produced 13 goals and 18 assists, numbers that speak to a player who influences games in multiple zones. He is left-footed, operating from the right, cutting in to shoot or slide passes through lines – a familiar template for Liverpool fans raised on Salah’s patterns.
In stylistic terms, he is one of the closest like-for-like replacements on the market for the Egyptian: a left-footed right-sided forward with end product and craft. Not the same player, not the same aura, but close to ideal for the role Liverpool are trying to refill.
Decision Time at Anfield
This is where the sporting project meets the balance sheet.
Liverpool must decide what they want their attack to be under Iraola, not in theory but in practice. Is the right wing built around a creator-finisher like Trincão? Do they lean into a more hybrid solution with players like Frimpong and internal options rotating through? Or do they wait for another window, and risk drifting through a season without a defined spearhead on that side?
The opportunity is there. Sporting have a clear price. Al-Ahli are at the table but not over the line. The difference between interest and action, between a long-term target and a new signing, may come down to how quickly Liverpool are willing to move in the coming days.
If they truly see Trincão as the near-perfect Salah heir, this is the moment to prove it. The market will not wait forever.
