Former Liverpool defender Jason McAteer believes his former club should revamp their right flank during the transfer window.
06:00, 18 July 2026Updated 08:02, 18 July 2026
Cote d’Ivoire – RB Leipzig (official video) Cote d’Ivoire – RB Leipzig (official video)
Former Liverpool defender Jason McAteer believes his old club must revitalize their right flank and should not ignore the signing of a new defender.
New Reds head coach Andoni Iraola has confirmed his interest in bringing in a new right-winger, having previously admitted his side lacked depth.
Liverpool struggled at right-back last season, with Conor Bradley still sidelined by a serious knee injury he suffered in January, and Jeremie Frimpong hampered by muscle problems and a lack of form, leaving Dominik Szoboszlai, Curtis Jones, Wataru Endo and Joe Gomez in the position.
And McAteer is adamant the Reds must enter the market to provide additional defensive support, as well as recruit another attacking option.
“I think the problem areas are on Liverpool’s right flank because they lost Trent (Alexander-Arnold) two seasons ago,” he said.
“It freed up a big, big space that we obviously expected Conor Bradley to occupy. You felt that Conor was ready to take this position, but unfortunately due to injuries and performances he was unable to do so.”
“And then Jeremy Frimpong came. He is not an ideal right-back in defensive situations. He is more of a full-back, more of an attacking player. So he had to replace him and we forced Sobsozlai to play on the right wing too, so it wasn’t very good.”
“I think it also unsettled (Mohamed) Salah and then Salah obviously left. So the right flank is an area we need to strengthen, both at full-back and at wing.”
“There was no real talk about a defender, but of course there was quite a bit of talk about (Yan) Diomande coming into that area.”
Liverpool were prepared to pay £86m for Diomande only for RB Leipzig to demand more than £100m, a fee that has so far deterred other potential suitors, including Paris Saint-Germain, who it turns out the Ivory Coast international would have preferred to join.
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And McAteer added: “Diomand did well at the World Championships. It was difficult for Côte d’Ivoire. He’s shown what he can do, but the thing about young players in this tournament is that players like (Ayoub) Bouaddi and (Lamin) Yamal seem to be in the headlines and have kind of taken the spotlight off him a little bit, which is not a bad thing.
“But the fact that you expect to pay £100 million for him means you kind of expect him to set the world on fire at that price on the biggest stage, and the World Cup was his platform.”
“It was difficult to judge him based on his performances at the World Cup, but he is definitely a young talent to watch.”
Speaking to Betarades.gr, McAteer believes French international Bradley Barcola from Paris Saint-Germain represents Liverpool’s best signing this summer.
“Between Diomande and Barcola, I’ll probably go with Barcola now,” he said. “I don’t think Liverpool need to buy potential anymore. I think we learned last season that potential doesn’t always work.”
“You kind of need to buy a little more finished product and someone you can trust a little more. “I just think Barcola’s performance at this World Cup has just shown more maturity than Diomande.”