How Hugo Ekitike could fit in Liverpool’s new look attack with Bradley Barcola signed

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Bradley Barcola has captured the imagination of Liverpool supporters who are excited to see him take up his position on the left of their attack.The Frenchman will surely become a fixture on the left wing once his imminent £120m arrival is finally sealed, adding pace, trickery and a goal threat from wide.It remains to be seen exactly what the rest of Liverpool‘s attack looks like this season, although it is fairly certain to feature Alexander Isak through the middle and Florian Wirtz in the No. But with some clever tactical switches, the Basque coach can still make it work.Liverpool can set up with an asymmetrical attackClearly, Liverpool are putting emphasis on their wide areas this summer, and it seems as though Iraola has a big hand in that.READ MORE: The staggering cost of Liverpool’s starting XI once Bradley Barcola has joined for £120mPhoto by Carl Recine/Getty ImagesIt could be that whoever arrives on the right wing makes a potential plan with Ekitike even more difficult, but it seems unlikely to be a star name at this point, rather leaving Liverpool with a deeper squad.When Ekitike comes back he should be in the Reds’ best team, and though we saw last season that that will not always be with the other big names around him, Liverpool will surely be planning to have him back in as soon as they can.Barcola‘s role is very defined, and there is no chance he is being signed for £120m to rotate in and out.

Similarly, Isak needs to start, and the same is clearly true of Wirtz.If you play Barcola on the left, Isak through the middle and Wirtz as a 10, there is room on the right wing, but Ekitike has only played as a right-sided forward once during his whole career. The Reds have FINALLY found an agreement with Paris Saint-Germain Photo Credit: Getty Images/Harry Langer/DeFodi Images/DeFodi He does not really have the pace to play as a winger, and is a long way from being as electric as someone like Barcola, but Wirtz can still do a job out wide drifting into central areas.If he becomes Liverpool’s de facto right winger, moving into central pockets and leaving space for the right full-back to bomb on, this could fit all four of him, Barcola, Isak and Ekitike into the same team.Before Liverpool decided to go big on wingers this summer, the plan had seemingly been to play Isak and Ekitike as a front two with Wirtz in behind.

This could still happen, just with a slightly different configuration than expected.With Barcola wide left and Ekitike and Isak centrally, Wirtz could pull right to middle, with Isak drifting slightly right. 9, with Barcola supplementing the attack from the left.Liverpool can then switch things up by throwing on Victor Munoz or another, new right winger to add width on the right, with Rio Ngumoha acting as Barcola’s back-up on the left.We may see Iraola use this system at times this season if he feels the need to throw Cody Gakpo, Barcola, Isak and Wirtz on at the same time, and that could act as a good trial run before Ekitike’s eventual return.For now, Liverpool do not really need to worry too much about this, and should give Ekitike the time he needs to properly recuperate and come back fully fit.