Liverpool's Post–Trent Right-Back Reality Check

Replacing Alexander-Arnold Was Never the Answer — Redefining the Role Is

Liverpool need a long-term solution at right-back.

With Conor Bradley picking up another long-term injury, he will now miss a total of 28 games for club and country this season, potentially even more if Liverpool advance further in the FA Cup and the Champions League.

This, added on top of the 19 games he missed last season and the 31 games he missed the season prior for club and country, doesn’t bode well for Bradley.

He has become far too injury-prone. For a club like Liverpool, who have ambitions to play at least 55-60 games a season, Bradley is simply not the player you trust as your first choice.

But then if not Bradley, who else? It’s become abundantly clear over the last few weeks that Arne Slot doesn’t trust Jeremie Frimpong as a right-back in Liverpool’s current system.

Slot’s stance on Ramsay underlines the depth issue

Any suggestion that Calvin Ramsay could solve Liverpool’s right-back problem has effectively been shut down by Arne Slot himself.

Speaking in his press conference this week, Slot was blunt when asked about Ramsay’s chances of playing, despite Conor Bradley’s injury:

“He’s with us, but I still think I have better options to play.”

That assessment is telling. Even with Bradley ruled out, Ramsay remains behind Jeremie Frimpong and Joe Gomez in the pecking order, with midfielders like Dominik Szoboszlai and Curtis Jones also preferred out of position.

In other words, Liverpool’s current head coach is openly acknowledging that Ramsay is emergency depth rather than a genuine solution. That only strengthens the case that the club’s right-back problem cannot be solved internally.

Dominik Szoboszlai cannot be a right-back forever, either. It would be a waste to play him there. Joe Gomez meanwhile is just about as injury prone as Bradley.

The only way Liverpool can find a long-term right-back is by entering the transfer market.

But just who should they sign and what type of defender should they be looking at?

Liverpool’s biggest problem is that they had the best right-back in world football for many years in Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Replacing him was always going to be impossible because he is one of a kind.