Liverpool are still looking for a wide player after Mohamed Salah\u2019s departure, and the lack of a direct successor is already shaping the club\u2019s thinking. With the new Premier League season drawing closer, it is clear that a simple like-for-like answer is not available.<\/p>\n
V\u00edctor Mu\u00f1oz has arrived from Osasuna to operate on the left, where he can either challenge Cody Gakpo or provide cover in the pressing structure preferred by Andoni Iraola. On the other flank, Liverpool had been linked with Yan Diomande, but the teenager\u2019s reported $114 million valuation and preference for Paris Saint-Germain have made that route difficult. PSG\u2019s Bradley Barcola has also been mentioned, although he is generally considered a left winger. That leaves Liverpool with a need to balance the left side carefully, especially with Rio Ngumoha emerging there too.<\/p>\n
Akliouche now looks the more natural fit. The Monaco forward is more comfortable on the right and, like Salah, likes to drift inside onto his left foot. He is also of interest to PSG, which underlines his standing, but his price appears far more manageable than Diomande\u2019s. Current estimates place him around $57 million (\u20ac50 million).<\/p>\n
Sky Sports reported that Liverpool have made an \u201cinitial approach\u201d by asking about his availability this summer. There has been no formal bid, only an attempt to establish whether Monaco are willing to sell and at what price. PSG, meanwhile, have already seen \u201cseveral\u201d offers turned down, with the highest reportedly worth $45.5 million (\u20ac40 million).<\/p>\n
Akliouche is not being framed as Salah\u2019s exact successor. His value lies more in creation than scoring, and his assists could be as important as his goals for players such as Alexander Isak, Hugo Ekitik\u00e9 or Florian Wirtz. He recorded seven goals and 10 assists across Ligue 1 and the Champions League last season.<\/p>\n
Out of possession, he also fits the tactical demands of Iraola, regularly helping to win the ball high up the pitch. That profile suggests Liverpool may be moving toward a different kind of attacking balance, one in which the central striker carries more of the scoring load.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Liverpool\u2019s winger search is narrowing, with Maghnes Akliouche emerging as a natural right-sided fit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17970,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175],"tags":[1615,1824],"class_list":["post-17971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-liverpool","tag-andoni-iraola","tag-liverpool-transfer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}