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Liverpool have already brought Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola to Anfield - now for plundering the playing squad?

New Liverpool boss Andoni Iraola has had a quieter summer in the transfer market than the one his predecessor enjoyed at this stage last year.

The Reds’ hectic few months, during which they broke their club transfer record twice and spent over £400 million as champions of England, may have played a part in Arne Slot’s downfall, with those raised expectations eventually coming back to hurt him when Liverpool ended up fifth in the Premier League.

Even so, Iraola may have the toughest transfer job of any Merseyside manager in years: how do you replace Mohamed Salah?

Liverpool have so far added only Victor Munoz to strengthen their attack – mainly as a left-winger – with the belief that the right side will be taken by someone such as Dominik Szoboszlai or Jeremie Frimpong unless a superstar who is available suddenly comes up.

However, Iraola has already replaced a superstar once before: after arriving at Bournemouth in January as the Cherries’ Antoine Semenyo successor, Rayan adapted to the Premier League with remarkable ease, with youth football expert Joe Donnohue saying it was “little surprise he's found the net so early on,” in a report for FourFourTwo's Boy's A Bit Special series.

Since then, the Brazilian has been named in the World Cup squad and has even been handed a start by manager Carlo Ancelotti in Raphinha’s absence: and while Raphinha may look more like the sort of name Liverpool fans would expect the club to use to replace a legend such as Salah, there may not only be more truth in Rayan – TEAMtalk reported links earlier this month – but also more sense.

To begin with, the 19-year-old has already worked with Iraola and has a clear record not only of beating full-backs in this league, but also of scoring goals, with five goals in just 15 appearances so far.

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Rayan is much more than a pure poacher, though, having shown himself to be a high-intensity presser on the right flank who will run himself into the ground – and with Liverpool needing to find the best mix of Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and Dominik Szoboszlai, trying to fit in yet another high-output superstar could become too difficult to co

Bringing in a teenager instead would give Iraola some breathing space, while his work rate could help set the tone: goals and assists would not be expected from Rayan straight away, as he would instead be looking to fit into a system and bring the players around him into play.

The obvious issue is the price, of course, with Rayan likely to demand a fee that one would normally expect for a ready-made superstar, despite having less than six months of Premier League experience behind him.

With Bournemouth insisting that their young star cannot be allowed to leave cheaply – especially with Junior Kroupi and Alex Scott drawing interest from elite clubs – Liverpool may be better served backing a big-money, proven star who can ease some of the pressure on the likes of Isak and Wirtz.

But big names bring big expectations: perhaps Iraola would be in a much stronger position to back someone who can get the best out of the major names he already has at his disposal right now.

Rayan is valued at €60 million by Transfermarkt. The Reds begin their Premier League campaign against Newcastle United.