Liverpool are still looking for wingers with less than a month until the Premier League starts. Here is how the candidates stack up against each other.
Liverpool remain without a senior right-winger in the squad, meaning Kieran Morrison filled in there for the Reds’ 4-2 friendly win over Sunderland.
The 19-year-old scored and played well, but the club are still chasing targets in the transfer market to ensure they aren’t left short this season.
With an attacking signing surely to arrive in the coming weeks, using FotMob, we have compared the most-likely targets with Mo Salah‘s output over the last year.
Bradley Barcola, Yankuba Minteh, Rayan and Monaco’s Maghnes Akliouche seem four of the most likely players to join this summer, but they don’t all play on the same side.
3D0G50G LEVERKUSEN - Bradley Barcola of Paris Saint-Germain during the UEFA Champions League match between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and Paris Saint-Germain at the Bay Arena on October 21, 2025, in Leverkusen, Germany. ANP / Hollandse Hoogte / Bart Stoutjesdijk
3D0G50G LEVERKUSEN - Bradley Barcola of Paris Saint-Germain during the UEFA Champions League match between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and Paris Saint-Germain at the Bay Arena on October 21, 2025, in Leverkusen, Germany. ANP / Hollandse Hoogte / Bart Stoutjesdijk
Interestingly, the player most closely linked is Barcola: a right-footed winger who tends to feature on the left.
Meanwhile, Minteh, Rayan and Akliouche and are all players who are nearer to Salah’s mold, as right-wingers who cut onto their left foot.
Goalscoring Compared
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Rank Player Goals / 90
1 Barcola 0.57
2 Rayan 0.40
3 Salah 0.29
4 Akliouche 0.22
5 Minteh 0.11
Goalscoring is the most valuable quality a footballer possesses and the market usually reflects that.
Barcola averaged more than a goal every other game in Ligue 1 last season, better than Liverpool’s other potential targets. His price tag is currently being reported at well over £100 million, though, a steep price to pay.
It becomes a gamble when you consider that his goals per 90 mins dropped to 0.18 during last season’s Champions League-winning European campaign.
However, it may be a fee Liverpool have to pay after taking into account the second-highest scorer per 90 on this list, Rayan.
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Tuesday, February 10, 2026: Bournemouth's Rayan Vitor Simplício Rocha celebrates after scoring his side's first and equalising goal during the FA Premier League match between Everton FC and Bournemouth AFC at Bramley-Moore Dock. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Tuesday, February 10, 2026: Bournemouth's Rayan Vitor Simplício Rocha celebrates after scoring his side's first and equalising goal during the FA Premier League match between Everton FC and Bournemouth AFC at Bramley-Moore Dock. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
He would be similarly costly and has only played in the Premier League since January.
Yankuba Minteh netted just three league goals for Brighton last season, but the 22-year-old’s low output can somewhat be mitigated by Fabian Hurzeler’s relatively conservative style of play.
As you can see from the table below, Minteh also took very few shots compared to others in the same position, while the likes of Barcola and Rayan got themselves into shooting positions regularly.
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Rank Player Percentile
1 Barcola 82%
2 Rayan 79%
3 Salah 75%
4 Akliouche 50%
5 Minteh 20%
Salah was far from at his best in his last Liverpool season, but he still got 12 goals and 10 assists, a higher combined total than any of the others listed.
Chance Creation Compared
Besides scoring goals, the most important aspect of a wide attacker’s play is creating opportunities for their teammates.
With the introduction of Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak last summer, we thought that Arne Slot‘s second season would see Liverpool’s reliance on goals shift from wide men to the middle.
This didn’t happen, but it could still be in the pipeline, even if it hasn’t been Andoni Iraola‘s style so far in his career.
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Rank Player Percentile
1 Salah 87%
2 Barcola 83%
3 Akliouche 75%
4 Minteh 49%
5 Rayan 21%
It is important to note that Liverpool are still without a senior right-winger and several of the linked players this summer, including Barcola and Yan Diomande, are right-footed.
Could this mean we see a right-footer feature regularly on the right and become more of a provider than a goalscorer?
The 24-year-old, Akliouche, ranked best across the last year with regard to assists per 90 (0.22). However, Barcola came out on top for chance creation.
Defensive Contributions Compared
JANUARY 19: Yankuba Minteh of Brighton and Hove Albion (Image: Mitchel Davidson/Alamy Live News)
JANUARY 19: Yankuba Minteh of Brighton and Hove Albion (Image: Mitchel Davidson/Alamy Live News)
Key to Iraola’s style of play is a high press that requires big work rate from the wingers, much like with Jurgen Klopp‘s forwards.
Helping to put pressure on the opposition and win the ball back will form a large part of any incomer’s duties, so it is worth looking at defensive contributions.
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Rank Player Percentile
1 Minteh 64%
2 Akliouche 61%
3 Rayan 45%
4 Barcola 39%
5 Salah 1%
These defensive contribution stats can very much depend on what the player’s coach asked of them last season, but it does provide some insight into how well the players closed down.
FotMob tell us Minteh was the hardest worker and Salah was incredibly ineffective at helping the Reds out defensively, alarmingly so in fact.
Of course, Slot allowed him this luxury, but having an energetic wide man to replace the Egyptian is crucial if the Reds are going to enjoy a successful season.
FotMob is the essential app for every fan to keep up to date with their team or follow football worldwide, with new features including heatmaps for players.
Andoni Iraola, New York FI
Andoni Iraola, New York FI
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