There's no easy solution for Hughes. Replacing Alexander-Arnold and finding a similar profile to him is like searching for a needle in a haystack.
But Liverpool don't have to do that. The Reds don't need to have a like-for-like replacement for Alexander-Arnold. They can just look to sign the next generational right-back instead.
And there's only one perfect player for that role. It's someone who is already on the club's radar and who just confirmed he is absolutely ready to make the step-up to Anfield.
His name is Daniel Banjaqui.
The 17-year-old right-back was linked with a move to Liverpool recently. He attracted the attention of the club’s scouts at the U17 World Cup.
Banjaqui is quick, and he loves to bomb forward but he's also a very good defender. In many ways, you can draw similarities with his style of play to that of his compatriot Nuno Mendes who came through the ranks at Sporting CP and plays for Paris Saint Germain.
Mendes was a player Liverpool really liked at Sporting but never ended-up signing because at the time they had Andy Robertson.
With Banjaqui there is no player blocking his pathway at Anfield. So, there is a genuine opportunity here for Liverpool to make a move.
And they absolutely should. Especially on the back of his phenomenal first start in Benfica colours in the Portugues's top flight.
Banjaqui made his first start at the weekend and he won the most tackles (4) and the most duels (12) in the game, impressing his manager Jose Mourinho in the process.
But perhaps the most important aspect of his performance was his assist, a clever cross finding Anisio Cabral to help Benfica to a 4-0 victory.
What stood-out about Banjaqui and confirmed he was ready for a move in the summer to a club like Liverpool was his tactical and technical intelligence combined with how physically developed he already is.
The way he was able to out-muscle opponents and beat them with speed proves he's ready for a more intense league like the Premier League.
