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With Mohamed Salah gone, a replacement is required.But Liverpool also found itself struggling at right-back last season, with Conor Bradley still recovering from the serious knee injury he sustained in January, and Jeremie Frimpong hampered by muscular problems and a dip in form.This resulted in Dominik Szoboszlai, Curtis Jones, Wataru Endo and Joe Gomez all being called upon to fill the position, with varying degrees of success.McAteer is firmly of the opinion that the Reds must venture into the transfer market to bolster their defensive options, alongside securing an additional attacking presence."I think the areas of concern are down Liverpool's right-hand side, having lost Trent (Alexander-Arnold) two seasons ago," he said."It vacated a big, big space which we obviously thought Conor Bradley would slot into. He's not an ideal right-back in defensive situations.
He's more of a wing-back, more of an attacking player. So he's had to fill in and we've had Szobsozlai play right-back too so it's not been great."I think that had unsettled Salah as well and then Salah's obviously gone.
Learn moreLiverpool FC have launched their new home kit for the 2026/27, inspired by iconic adidas strip worn during the club's 1989/90 title-winning campaign."But the fact that you're looking at maybe paying £100M for him means that you're kind of looking for him to set the world alight at that kind of price on the biggest stage, and the World Cup was his platform."It was difficult to judge him on his World Cup performances, but he's definitely a young talent that needs to be looked at."In an interview with Betarades, McAteer also suggested that France international Bradley Barcola of PSG would represent the shrewder acquisition for Liverpool this summer."Between Diomande and Barcola I would probably go for Barcola right now," he said. I just think Barcola's performances in this World Cup have just shown more maturity than Diomande."
