Andoni Iraola Addresses Liverpool's Squad Shortages
Andoni Iraola is not dressing this up. Liverpool are short, and he wants help now.
On the eve of his first Premier League game in charge, away at Newcastle United on Sunday, the Spaniard laid out the reality of a squad stripped of some of its biggest names and still waiting for key pieces to arrive.
Salah, Robertson, Konate gone. Jeremy Jacquet, Victor Munoz and Ronald Araujo in. The balance sheet doesn’t quite add up yet, especially out wide, and Iraola is pushing for more.
“I wanted everyone here”
Speaking at his pre‑match press conference, Iraola was blunt about the timing of Liverpool’s transfer work.
“As a manager, it's an easy one for me, I wanted the players from the first day on July 13,” he said. “I wanted everyone here, all the positions doubled with top-level players. But you understand how the competition works.”
The season starts while the window is still wide open. Managers plan, agents circle, and squads can change overnight.
“The market is open when you start the competition so we have to adapt as coaches to this situation,” he continued. “There are certain situations that for me are clear, especially on the wing because we don't have enough players specifically to play in those positions. In other positions we have to be open-minded in the market to see situations that honestly can improve our team.”
The message is clear: Liverpool need wide attackers, and they need them quickly.
Chaos of the final 10 days
The last stretch of the window is usually when everything explodes. Iraola would rather it didn’t.
Liverpool are actively hunting two wide forwards. They are pursuing Paris Saint-Germain’s Barcola and have already seen a £50 million bid for Brighton’s Minteh rejected. The links swirl, the rumours build, and the clock ticks.
Iraola could do without the noise.
“I hate these 10 days that we have because there is a lot of uncertainty, not just in Liverpool but everywhere,” he admitted. “But we have to not spend too much time thinking about these things.”
Pressed on Barcola and Minteh specifically, the former Bournemouth manager shut it down, wary of straying into tapping‑up territory. The speculation can rage outside; he is determined to keep the focus inside the dressing room.
Curtis Jones on his way
Change at Anfield is not limited to the flanks. Curtis Jones, an academy product who grew up with the club, is close to a £30m move to Serie A champions Inter.
Iraola backs the decision, even as he praises the midfielder’s quality.
“I talked to him in the first or second training day,” he revealed. “I value him a lot as a player, he loves this club, but I understood probably what the outcome would be in the end. He was coming from some years in the same position.”
It is a cold, calculated call in a summer of upheaval. One more sign that Liverpool are reshaping not just their starting XI, but their core.
A new leadership group
Robertson’s move to Tottenham earlier in the summer left the vice‑captaincy vacant and the leadership structure in need of a reset. Iraola has acted.
Virgil van Dijk remains captain, but he will now be backed by a new group: Alisson Becker, Dominik Szoboszlai and Joe Gomez. It is a blend of status, personality and dressing-room influence, with one important caveat.
Alisson will not wear the armband on the pitch.
“With the new rule I think there is a big limitation if a 'keeper wears the armband,” Iraola explained. “Because if something happens in the opposition box the referee has to explain to the captains what's happening, all the decisions. I had one season with Neto in Bournemouth and then you have to start every game to say a different player that can act as a captain, and this is not viable.”
So the Brazilian remains a leader, just not the official on‑field captain.
“But I wanted Alisson to feel like we value him,” Iraola added. “I've had enough time and we will have more time to know each other, but I had to explain the decision about the armband to him. Unfortunately, they are putting the rules in a way that there is a lot of disadvantages to having a keeper as a captain.”
Liverpool head to St James’ Park in flux: key figures gone, more exits looming, new signings bedding in, and targets still being chased. Iraola has his plan, his leadership group, and his complaints about the calendar.
What he doesn’t yet have is the depth he craves on the wings. The next 10 days will decide whether that gap defines Liverpool’s season or merely shapes its opening chapter.
