Exploring the Right-Back Market with Data: ft. M. Palestra, M. Kayode, G. Doué & Ó. Mingueza

Some interesting names have popped up for clubs to look at if they want to sign a right-back this summer

Written on 09/06/2026

While the footballing world turns its attention to a World Cup taking place in North America (amid a lack of accessibility, widespread inequality, horrific weather for the game, and ‘half-time shows’), clubs across Europe have to continue their work preparing for the 2026/27 season. One way to do that is through squad planning and making key transfers that will supplement it.

Liverpool are among a host of clubs looking for a new right-back. We have heard about Manchester City aiming to sign a player in that position (linked with Tino Livramento and Givairo Read), while Bayern Munich and other continental heavyweights (including Real Madrid, who have agreed a deal with Denzel Dumfries) are aiming to bolster that area before the start of next season.

If we focus on the Reds for the moment, they struggled to field a player consistently at right-back throughout the season. Conor Bradley, Jeremie Frimpong, Curtis Jones, Dominik Szoboszlai, Wataru Endo and Joe Gomez were all used by former boss Arne Slot in that position during the course of the 2025/26 campaign. Not ideal!

Bradley has yet to recover from the horrific knee injury he suffered at Arsenal in January, while Frimpong picked up quite a few injuries in his first season at Anfield after being virtually injury-free during his time at Bayer Leverkusen. Moreover, how much of a right-back the latter actually is remains to be seen.

Therefore, it is no surprise that, alongside bolstering their options on the wing, Liverpool are aiming to sign a right-back this summer. We will discuss four names in this article: Marco Palestra, Guéla Doué, Michael Kayode and Óscar Mingueza.

Mingueza is a free agent after his contract with Celta Vigo expired this summer. Palestra is a strong target for Inter Milan and Newcastle United (although he has apparently rejected a move to the latter). Kayode and Doué, meanwhile, enjoyed exceptional 2025/26 seasons in their respective teams and have been linked with potential moves away this summer if the right offers arrive.

• Palestra, 21, was on loan at Cagliari from Atalanta and predominantly operated as a wing-back on either flank in a 3-5-2 or 3-5-1-1 system. In a handful of games in a back four, he was used either as a right-sided midfielder in a 4-5-1 or as a full-back on either side. Flexible!

• Kayode, 21, was signed by Brentford from Fiorentina last summer and instantly became their starting right-back in a 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1 or 4-5-1 system.

• Doué, 23, has been part of the Strasbourg side since the summer of 2024. During the recent campaign, the Ivorian played as a right-back in a back four and as a wide right-sided centre-back in a back three. He is a versatile player who can operate both at full-back and in a wider central defensive role.

• Mingueza, 27, moved from Barcelona to Celta in 2022 and is now a free agent. He is also a versatile player who can operate both at full-back and in central defence. During the 2025/26 season, the Spaniard played an almost equal number of games at right-back and left-back. He also made a few appearances as a wing-back on either flank and a couple in central defence.

Let us now look at two percentile rank bar charts, which compare these players against full-backs and wing-backs from Europe’s top five leagues across key metrics relating to passing, chance creation, ball carrying, and defending/duels.

Palestra stands out more in crossing volume and accuracy, but when it comes to overall passing, Mingueza and Doué average higher percentile ranks. Moving into chance creation, Mingueza is clearly ahead across the board, while Doué and Palestra are closely matched in expected assists, with Palestra much better in open-play chance creation.

Up next, ball carrying and defending/duel numbers.

Palestra definitely takes the honours in all of the key ball-carrying, progression-carrying numbers, and chance creation or shot attempts following those carries, with Doué a distant second in this regard.

Talking about possession-adjusted defensive numbers, Doué is well ahead of the others. In ground duels contested and win rate, Palestra and Kayode are ahead of the other two, while Doué also takes the honours in aerial duels.

Safe to say, the Ivorian is well above the rest in overall defending and duel percentile ranks.

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If we take the average percentile rank across all the metrics covered in the two bar charts above, Doué comes out on top (average of 68th percentile), followed by Palestra (61st percentile), Mingueza (58th percentile), and Kayode (49th percentile).

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Let’s look at some pitch data visuals to further understand the different profiles and qualities of the right-backs in this analysis (touch maps, passing maps, threat generated through passes or crosses, ball-carrying maps and defensive duel maps).

We will start with the touch maps.

We previously touched on the fact that Palestra and Mingueza had stints on both sides of the pitch, operating as either full-backs or wing-backs. Kayode has predominantly played at right-back, with occasional touches in the left attacking zone when taking long throws for Brentford. Doué has operated as both a full-back and a wide centre-back, which explains the more central spread of his touches during the 2025/26 season.

Next up, we have final third passes.

Except for Kayode, the other full-backs frequently vary their passing in the final third, using short passes between the lines to combine with the winger and pull the defensive block out of shape. The Brentford man is more of a flying right-back who either crosses into the box or stays deeper, feeding the winger to do the rest of the work in the final third.

Solo expected threat (xT) maps per zone from passes or crosses are up next (with mentions of the accuracy rate of crosses into the box), starting with Michael Kayode.

With a decent crossing accuracy of 27% into the box, Kayode’s predominant threat is generated via these deliveries. As shown in his xT map above, his primary threat generation comes from crosses on both flanks. Because he takes long throws from both sides, he frequently picks up second balls on the left-hand side before recycling possession back into the opposition box.

Up next, Marco Palestra.

Palestra’s crossing accuracy into the box is very similar to Kayode’s, but his threat generation is far less one-dimensional. Alongside crossing, he creates a threat with slide-rule through balls from the half-spaces on both flanks, or clipped balls into the box towards the far post from those deep positions.

The 21-year-old ultimately has more weapons in his armoury to create danger when on the ball in the final third, especially when compared to Kayode.

Next up, the xT map of Guéla Doué.

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