Liverpool's Transfer Oversight: Missing Out on Diego Gomez
Anfield can feel it already. This Liverpool side under Andoni Iraola is exciting, raw, aggressive – and nowhere near finished.
The new season has offered enough flashes to stir belief on the Kop. Jeremy Jacquet has slipped into Liverpool’s back line with the assurance of a player who has been there for years, not weeks. He looks like he belongs, reading danger early, stepping out with conviction, giving Iraola the kind of front-foot defender his system demands.
Up the pitch, Alexander Isak finally resembles the £125 million striker Liverpool thought they were buying. His movement is sharper, his link-up play crisper, his finishing more ruthless. Bradley Barcola is starting to find his place as well, knitting attacks together and showing why Iraola wanted him embedded in this high-tempo, high-pressing machine.
And yet, for all the promise, something is off. The structure isn’t quite right. The balance isn’t there.
Liverpool still feel a couple of signings short of a team that can truly play Iraola’s football for nine months, twice a week, under the weight of expectation that comes with that red shirt. Which is why their absence from one particular transfer chase looks increasingly baffling.
Brighton’s new standard-bearer
Down on the south coast, Brighton have again ripped up the script. Under Fabian Hurzeler, they have not just started brightly; they look ready to crash the top-four party and stay there.
This isn’t a fluke run built on one star. Brighton’s rise has been driven by collective cohesion, rehearsed patterns, and relentless energy. But even in a well-drilled side, certain players pull the eye.
Diego Gomez is one of them.
The Paraguayan has become a talking point across the league, not just because of that outrageous goal from the halfway line against Crystal Palace – though moments like that tend to live long in the memory – but because of what he represents in Hurzeler’s system. He is its embodiment: intensity, intelligence, and bravery rolled into one.
He covers ground, snaps into duels, drives play forward, and still has the quality to decide games from distance. At 23, he already looks like the kind of midfielder modern coaches build around.
Just not, it seems, at Anfield.
United move, Liverpool watch
The latest reports on Gomez’s future make grim reading for those who think Liverpool should be at the front of this queue. According to Hooligan Soccer, Manchester United are currently the “sole serious and determined candidate” to sign him in January, with Arsenal and Atletico Madrid watching developments closely.
Liverpool are nowhere to be seen.
For a club trying to reshape itself around a ferocious pressing identity under Iraola, that feels like a glaring misstep. Gomez’s game screams compatibility with this new Liverpool: high-energy, athletic, aggressive without being reckless, and comfortable operating in the chaos that a high press creates.
He doesn’t just run. He influences both ends of the pitch. He can break up play, spring counters, arrive late in the box, or sit deeper and dictate tempo. In a squad that still looks short of a true all-phase midfielder, he ticks almost every box.
The price? A reported €50–60 million, roughly £40–50 million. In today’s market, for a 23-year-old already thriving in the Premier League, that is not opportunism. That is value.
A missing piece Iraola could use now
Iraola’s blueprint demands players who can live in multiple roles within 90 minutes. Gomez fits that mould. He can shuffle across positions, plug gaps, and still impose himself. For a Liverpool side juggling domestic and European ambitions, a player with that level of versatility is not a luxury. It’s protection.
The squad still feels thin in certain zones, especially when injuries and fatigue inevitably bite. Gomez could be the one who allows Iraola to rotate without ripping out the team’s core identity. He could be the bridge between the defensive solidity Jacquet is bringing and the cutting edge Isak is rediscovering.
Julian Ward knows this profile well. He will be fully aware of what Gomez has been doing at Brighton and how seamlessly his attributes would translate into Iraola’s structure.
The question is simple: while Manchester United position themselves as the leading candidate, can Liverpool really afford to stand back and watch a tailor-made midfielder for their new era head to a direct rival?
