Liverpool do love a surprise transfer. But their move for Victor Munoz might top the lot.
The Reds had reportedly made Yan Diomande a priority this summer, viewing the RB Leipzig winger as Mo Salah’s heir on the right flank. But there’s only a finite amount of money for transfers, and Liverpool had a lot to do this summer.
If Diomande was their top target, the Ivorian’s reported £100million price tag would eat up a large chunk of the Reds’ budget.
Newcastle United, meanwhile, had been working on a deal to sign Anthony Gordon’s replacement. The Magpies had been linked with a few names, including Lille’s Matias Fernandez-Pardo. But they had settled on Munoz.
Munoz had impressed for Osasuna following his move from Real Madrid last summer. Interestingly, the 22-year-old is Barcelona-born, but turned out for Real Madrid’s Castilla side. And Munoz’s performances for Osasuna during the 2025-26 campaign earned him a surprise call-up to Spain‘s World Cup squad.
A €40m release clause in his deal meant a transfer for the winger should have been fairly straightforward. Newcastle spent days negotiating, looking to ensure the payment terms were favourable, but the deal appeared to be a formality. Then, out of nowhere, Liverpool hijacked the move. With 24 hours, the transfer was announced, and Munoz was the first signing of the Andoni Iraola era.
Despite Munoz’s arrival, reports suggest Diomane remains a priority for Liverpool. And, in truth, the Reds do need multiple attacking reinforcements. But this bit push for the Ivory Coast international might actually be good news for Munoz.
However, there is a world in which Munoz is even more important for Iraola than Diomande next season.
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In this article, we’ll cover
Low expectations
Come the end of the transfer window, Munoz will likely be viewed by the masses as a bonus buy. A squad player brought in to help Iraola implement his intensive gameplan. He can play anywhere across the forward line so will be the first attacking substitute a lot of the time.
But the low expectations work in Munoz’s favour. He’s a player who backs himself. He left La Masia to join Damm. From there, he moved to Real Madrid. With first-team minutes set to be limited, he moved to Osasuna, a mid-table team in Spain.
Munoz went backwards to move forwards. He did it after leaving Barcelona and then after leaving Real Madrid. He moved to Osasuna and did enough to earn himself a surprise call-up to the Spain team.
This is someone who likes to prove people wrong. And being viewed as the squad option could well see him scale his game to new heights as he looks to shine brighter than Diomande, or whoever the Reds eventually bring in.
A consistent threat
Liverpool lacked goals last season. They lacked a threat in the final third. The Reds had no real attacking patterns of play, and the forward line often looked starved of any real service.
Despite being such a varied final-third player, capable of attacking the outside, drifting inside and playing on either flank, Munoz is consistent. He makes things happen with and without the ball, the latter is tied heavily to his movement, while he’s also a genuine goal threat, as evidenced by his shot map.
Munoz isn’t a high-volume shooter and he isn’t wasteful in front of goal, only just underperforming his underlying numbers. And this tends to be the norm for younger attackers.
The key takeaway from this is that even while turning out for a struggling Osasuna side, he was able to create chances on a regular basis, over and over again. Diomande has similar traits but his huge overperformance in front of goal last season skews perception and narratives. He’s running hot and this makes people expect more. It’s harder to live up to those expectations.
Munoz, however, can easily be scaled in terms of output and it can be done without the pressure of a huge price tag.
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The wildcard factor
Munoz is an unknown. He has just one season of top-flight football to his name, for starters, and that arrived in a struggling team who narrowly avoided relegation. His true level is not yet known. The general public have no idea what his ceiling is, nor do they have any idea what his floor is.
For the Castilla team, Munoz played on the right side a lot of the time and was even a supporting striker on occasion. He’d play on the last line and get in behind, showcasing his ability to be on the end of moves. He’d then also be the man playing the final pass, striking up a good understanding with Gonzalo Garcia.
For Osasuna, he was on the left side of the attack and linked up well with 17 goal-Ante Budimir. He’s a chameleon. And at Liverpool, he has the opportunity to play alongside the likes of Isak and Wirtz, and this can only be a positive for someone who just seems to perform alongside teammates.
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