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Sports 25 AUGUST, 2026

Premier League Transfer Storylines: Liverpool’s Wing Moves and Arsenal’s Striker Conundrum

This article delves into the Premier League transfer storylines, highlighting Liverpool's wing moves and Arsenal's striker conundrum.
NEWS DESK PUBLISHED: AUGUST 25, 2026
📖 4 MIN READ

The new season is in full swing, and for some Premier League clubs, it has taken just one game to reveal the extent of the work that needs to be done. Fortunately, there are still a few days left in the transfer window to address these issues before the deadline of 6 p.m. ET on Tuesday, September 1.

Premier League Transfer Storylines: Liverpool's Wing Moves and Arsenal's Striker Conundrum
Source: sportshub.cbsistatic.com

Liverpool’s opening game against Newcastle United was a concerning insight into the work required on Andoni Iraola’s squad. Despite a 2-2 draw on an emotive day at St. James’ Park, the head coach himself is insistent that he does not need a holding midfielder, whose presence might have quelled some of the danger caused by Yoane Wissa and the fast-countering Magpies. However, Iraola is likely to get a few new additions in wide areas, as he needs them.

Premier League Transfer Storylines: Liverpool's Wing Moves and Arsenal's Striker Conundrum
Source: sportshub.cbsistatic.com

Cody Gakpo was effective, scoring a brilliant low equalizer, but Liverpool have been in talks with Tottenham over the sale of the Dutch international, who has 33 goals and 16 assists over 128 Premier League games. Those are hardly stellar numbers, but Gakpo was the most senior option available to Iraola, who got the sort of performance from Rio Ngumoha that might be expected of a 17-year-old playing on his opposite flank. New signing Victor Munoz added a sparky presence down the right, drawing the penalty for their last-gasp equalizer, but he is not a natural on that side of the field either. Mohamed Salah’s empty boots remain unfilled.

Premier League Transfer Storylines: Liverpool's Wing Moves and Arsenal's Striker Conundrum
Source: sportshub.cbsistatic.com

Yankuba Minteh looks to be the man to succeed an all-time Anfield great, though the Reds’ first two offers to Brighton were rejected, a fee of around $95 million being set if Liverpool are to get their man. The 22-year-old may not have the sort of prodigious scoring record that Salah had in Serie A, but perhaps if Hugo Ekitike and Alexander Isak, the former injured and the latter woefully out of form, can excel, then there will be little need for a scorer. Early in his career, Minteh’s outstanding qualities look to be around getting the ball in position for others to score, even if he is not doing much of the shooting himself.

On the opposite flank, the standoff with Paris Saint-Germain over Bradley Barcola continues. Is the 23-year-old winger worth the near $200 million that Paris Saint-Germain are said to want for him, their demands informed by the huge (and arguably overpriced) fee Chelsea paid for Morgan Rogers? Probably not, though it is a hard one to judge. In the last two seasons of Ligue 1 football, Barcola scored 25 goals and provided 11 assists. How different might they look in a competition where he is not playing for a team who are prohibitively superior to the field? In the Champions League, those numbers were five and eight at a rate of a goal involvement every 160 minutes.

If that is it for Liverpool, there will be questions further back in the pitch. Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong struggled greatly when Newcastle won the ball on Sunday; both look as they did last season, wing backs from a five-man defense who are overwhelmed in a four. In midfield too, despite Iraola’s insistence to the contrary, there seems to be a lot of pressure on Ryan Gravenberch. There is work to be done.

Aston Villa, on the other hand, are under pressure after their opening game. It is barely over three months since their finest hour in a generation, a brilliant 3-0 win over Freiburg earning the Midlands side Europa League glory, their first European trophy in 44 years, their first major honor of any sort in 30. By the time the transfer window closes, there may be as few as five of the starting XI from that night still at Villa Park.

Ezri Konsa, Lucas Digne, Youri Tielemans, and Morgan Rogers are gone. Villa would be prepared for Emiliano Martinez to follow, his replacement already secured in Japan international Zion Suzuki. Ollie Watkins may yet follow, Unai Emery offering barbed criticism of his star striker after he was missing from the matchday squad for the 4-0 loss to Brighton. Al-Hilal want to sign Watkins, and the 30-year-old is understood to be keen on a move that would offer him a sizable pay rise.

Whether a fee can be agreed with Villa remains in question, as does how Emery might build bridges with his star striker if a deal is not agreed.

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