Andoni Iraola Faces Challenges After Liverpool Transfer Window
Andoni Iraola has just had his first real taste of a Liverpool summer. The tension. The long waits. The deals that slipped away. For the 43-year-old, this was a window that tested resolve as much as recruitment.
Liverpool emerged with three senior additions: Victor Munoz, Ronald Araujo and Bradley Barcola. Jeremy Jacquet finally walked through the door as well, the defender arriving after being signed under Arne Slot and only now joining up with the squad.
Yet one void remains glaring. Mohamed Salah is gone and the right flank still has no like-for-like heir. Liverpool pushed, circled targets, and still ended the window without the right-winger Iraola wanted. The search, though, is not over.
Minteh chase not dead yet
At one stage it looked as if Yankuba Minteh would be the man to step into Salah’s old territory. Liverpool went hard for the Brighton winger late in the window, testing the Seagulls’ resolve with bids of £50 million and £60 million.
Brighton refused to budge. Minteh, 22, stayed at the Amex, a statement of intent from a club that has grown used to dictating its own market terms.
Now the story has flickered back into life.
Brighton head coach Fabian Hurzeler has opened the door, ever so slightly, to a January exit. Speaking about the Gambian international’s future, the 33-year-old said: “If the whole team is successful and the individual shines then Yankuba will get a lot of attention again and he can then maybe fulfil his dream in the next transfer window.”
For Iraola and Liverpool, that line matters. It suggests this saga could simply be on pause, not over. Performances over the first half of the season may yet drag Minteh back into the centre of Liverpool’s plans.
N’Guessan deal done after the deadline
While Deadline Day itself descended into chaos around the Barcola pursuit, Liverpool quietly landed a different forward just after the window shut.
Days after the September 1 cut-off, the club confirmed an agreement to sign Djylian N’Guessan from Saint-Etienne. The deal, announced on Friday, will see the 18-year-old move to Anfield permanently in January in a transfer worth around £4.3 million.
Liverpool have already mapped out his next step. N’Guessan will immediately head back to France, joining Ligue 1 side Stade Brestois on loan for the 2026/27 campaign to continue his development.
The teenager arrives with a small but promising résumé. He has made 13 senior appearances for Saint-Etienne, scoring once, and featured seven times for France at last year’s U20 World Cup, where they finished fourth.
It is not the marquee right-wing signing to replace Salah. It is something different: a long-term bet, another young piece in Iraola’s evolving Liverpool. The real question now is whether January delivers the ready-made star to go with it.
