The 2026 World Cup is barely underway, and Liverpool is already treating it like a 48-team audition tape. The club has identified 13 transfer targets competing across the US, Canada, and Mexico, using the expanded tournament as a live scouting laboratory to fast-track a squad overhaul that’s been months in the making.
With Mohamed Salah’s departure still fresh and Ibrahima Konaté also gone, the task facing incoming head coach Andoni Iraola isn’t subtle. The World Cup’s group stage, which kicked off June 11, is providing a concentrated window to evaluate talent under the highest possible pressure.
The names on Liverpool’s radar
Yan Diomande, the RB Leipzig defender representing Ivory Coast, has emerged as one of the most frequently cited targets. His profile fits Liverpool’s need to shore up a backline that lost one of its anchors in Konaté.
On the attacking side, Bradley Barcola of PSG is the headline name. The French winger represents the kind of explosive, direct threat Liverpool will need to replace the output Salah provided for the better part of a decade.
