With Liverpool failing to replace Luis Diaz last summer and then seeing Premier League legend Mohamed Salah depart at the end of the 2025-26 season, the Reds knew they had a lot of work to do to strengthen on the wing in order to avoid heading into the new season with an even weaker and more imbalanced squad than they ended the last one.
They still have work to do, but the early capture of Spanish international Victor Muñoz was at least a promising start. The 23-year-old is a late bloomer, with this past season at Osasuna his first playing significant minutes at the senior level. It was enough to earn him a spot on the Spain squad at the World Cup—as well as a €40M move to Liverpool.
“With Victor, I think we signed him in a moment he’s very hungry,” said new head coach Andoni Iraola, who was widely reported as being key in convincing Muñoz to jump at the chance to move to England. “He’s ambitious, but he’s still humble and knows that he has to come very ready. I think he’s someone with versatility—can play right, can play left.
“He has the work-rate also for all that we will require, so I’m really looking forward to having him here, even if we know that we will have to wait a little with him and [Alexis Mac Allister]. But we know that we will have someone who has won the World Cup this year. We don’t know still if it’s going to be Macca or Victor, but one of them will win it.”
Muñoz and Spain advanced to the World Cup final by comfortably—shockingly so—beating France while Alexis Mac Allister and Argentina were able to beat England late after a tactical disasterclass from now rightly under fire Three Lions boss Thomas Tuchel handed the win away. The final is set to be held in New York on Sunday at 3PM EST/8PM BST.