Liverpool transfers assessed - wingers who could become Andoni Iraola's Luis Diaz

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Salah hardly set the world on fire last season, but that campaign was a troubling glimpse into life without the Egyptian if last year's hefty investments fail to pay off.The absolute priority must be to sign players who get the best out of Isak and Florian Wirtz, but having at least one of the incoming wingers be proficient at finding the net on a regular basis would go some way to easing the transition.The best in terms of conversion rate alone is Diomande (22.8%), but that's based on just one season of data and there's really no guarantee his lethal record will continue at such an impressive rate.In fact, it would almost certainly decline in the Premier League, at least temporarily, based on the average c.25% drop-off for players moving from the Bundesliga.And that's before you get to his freakish xGOT (expected goals on target: 0.42 per 90), which far exceeds his expected goals (0.26 per 90).Diomande's shooting last season was like that of a prolific No.9, so expecting that to carry on would probably be unrealistic. He was playing in the third division last season, but if you look at his xG (0.52 per 90) he's converting at a much more sustainable rate (0.6 goals per 90) than Diomande, pretty much in line with someone who's shooting from the positions he's getting himself into.He's clearly a volume shooter, attempting 3.45 shots per 90, but El Mala doesn't sacrifice accuracy - hitting the target 1.43 times per 90 and converting 17.4% of his shots.The really exciting thing is he wasn't even playing in a particularly good team.

Though his two penalties boosted his tally to eight, his non-penalty xG per 90 of 0.27 and xGOT of 0.32 show a reliable finisher who can scale these numbers - keeping them up in the Premier League would be a different challenge, though.These players stand out - Diomande aside and Bowen to a lesser extent, but his eye for goal is not in question - because their purpose in the team is primarily to add goals from wide areas rather than to create.Liverpool will need both, however.CreativityThe other big task for Liverpool's new winger(s) will be creating chances.Again, Diomande comes to the fore. Coupled with his very real goal threat, he's also creating the most big chances per 90 of any of the wingers here that we've identified as primarily goalscoring wingers - but we can see from this chart that a relatively small proportion of these big chances are actually expected to end up being assists, suggesting he's not creating very much in terms of nailed on goals.El Mala isn't the most creative, creating the fewest chances (0.97 per 90) or expected assists (0.11) of anyone on this list, but his crossing rate (25.6% successful) is actually pretty good and he presses well (0.97 possessions won final third per 90).The chart also shows why Nusa could be of interest to Liverpool if his teammate Diomande proves too difficult to land, as a high proportion of his big chances created (0.4 per 90) are expected to lead to assists (0.23 xA per 90) - despite his misfortune in his teammates not converting those chances (0.13 assists per 90).However, the 21-year-old will need these numbers need to scale upwards to make a consistent impact.

The second-most prolific dribbler here (3.01 completed per 90), Nusa is a player who you could easily visualise in Bournemouth's team last season - but whether he is ready to make the leap to Liverpool given his much lower end product than the likes of Barcola, Diomande and Leao is another question.The Portuguese is a better dribbler than the numbers suggest, as shown by his 55.8% success rate from two seasons ago when deployed on the wing, where things are less congested.His top speed (32.56km/h) is likely higher in reality too - I was only able to obtain an official top speed for Leao this season from the UEFA Euro qualifiers back in November, but he clocked 34.3km/h in the Champions League last season.El Mala's numbers, meanwhile, are those of a striker. A 31.63km/h top speed is far from the elite level for a winger and he hasn't stood out in any other respects compared to the other targets here - good enough to be on the list, but not enough to be a serious first-choice target.The verdictThere are plenty of unknowns in this list, alongside two very obvious and reasonably-priced options that should surely come under consideration for Liverpool.Bowen and Leao are wingers who have been there and done it, and would provide valuable squad options.Bowen had the worse season, and being two years Leao's senior raises questions around his suitability long-term, but he is homegrown - and therefore essentially free in terms of squad registration limits given Liverpool's dearth of homegrown senior players - and proven in the Premier League.Leao is a player whose floor is reasonably good - he has scored eight or nine goals in each of the last three Serie A campaigns for Milan - but who hasn't ever truly exploded, only ever breaking double figures in the league twice and not at all since 2022/23.Bowen, meanwhile, is a player who has broken double figures twice in the last three seasons, making 20 or more goal contributions in the league in each of his last three campaigns, even as West Ham were relegated this season.For me, he is a no-brainer of a sensible transfer for Liverpool - but the Reds arguably need two more to have the depth truly required.Diomande just Barcola as the number one target for his game-changing dribbling ability and incredible potential, and would tick boxes in terms of playing on either side and potentially scoring goals himself, though Barcola would be a fine alternative - and likely available if Diomande does join PSG instead.Assuming Liverpool won't break the bank to sign both, a young, creative winger should complement Diomande or Barcola, like Minteh or Nusa.RB Leipzig may rule out selling Nusa, though, if Diomande leaves, and for added goal threat Liverpool should consider El Mala if opting against the aging quality of Bowen.Whatever Richard Hughes and the recruitment team do, it will be fascinating to see which wingers Liverpool opt to bring in this summer.