Liverpool transfer exit: Three deadweight players Iraola must offload this summer
Liverpool transfer exit: A summer of reckoning has arrived on Merseyside. A new head coach walks through the door, yet the same old problems are festering in the squad. Let’s not sugarcoat it: the 2025-26 Premier League campaign was a total disaster. Surrendering the title to Arsenal is one thing, but finishing fifth with a measly 60 points, especially after blowing roughly £450m in the market, is entirely unacceptable.
Andoni Iraola inherits a bloated, imbalanced group. Clearing the decks isn’t just a good idea; it’s structurally necessary. Space needs to be made. Three players have zero future at Anfield, and they need to be binned off immediately.
1. Federico Chiesa must go back to Italy
Two seasons. 48 appearances. Five goals, five assists.
Brutal. Those figures have intensified scrutiny over what was initially billed as a high-upside gamble, with his time on Merseyside increasingly viewed as an unsuccessful spell. No change of management alters what the hard data already says. Chiesa remained stuck on the periphery in his second campaign, despite building up the fitness that Arne Slot claimed limited his minutes the year before. He made 32 appearances this term, sure, but the experienced forward clocked just over 11 hours on the pitch in total. That is fewer than eight full games.
Cut the losses. Recent reports from June 2026 suggest Liverpool would accept as low as £10 million to get a deal done, holding an asking price between £10m and £15m. Having signed him from Juventus for a tenner in 2024, they would break even at the bottom end of that scale. Perfect. Serie A is already calling, too. Four Italian clubs are tracking him. Juventus fancied a return in January, while Napoli, Atalanta, AC Milan, Inter Milan, and AS Roma are all sniffing about. Send him packing.
2. Wataru Endo’s chapter is finished
Endo spent the final three months of the 2025-26 season stuck in the treatment room with a foot injury. Even before that medical setback, he was barely getting a look-in. 12 appearances, three starts, and just 455 minutes on the grass, the lowest of any senior player at the club.
He is 33 years old now. He has a contract running until June 2027 and is thoroughly marginalised. A squad rebuild requires cold, hard realism, and because his body is plagued by long-term injuries, he managed only those three starts across all competitions this year. If the hierarchy wants to recoup any transfer revenue at all, the button must be pushed right now.
The midfielder even withdrew from Japan’s World Cup 2026 squad due to that foot injury sustained back in February, subsequently calling time on his international career altogether. His body simply cannot cope with the aggressive, high-pressing system Iraola demands from his engine room. His estimated transfer value floats somewhere between €6 million and €8.1 million. It is pocket change, granted, but it gets a heavy wage off the books and frees up a registration spot for someone who can actually run.
3. Curtis Jones is in his final year, and the clock is ticking
This one stings. Jones is a local lad, an academy graduate, and genuinely popular around the place. But sentiment doesn’t win league titles, and it certainly doesn’t drag you out of fifth place.
The 25-year-old has officially entered the final year of his contract. With absolutely no guarantees over his game time under the new regime, a move before the deadline makes sense for everyone. Transfer reporter Fabrizio Romano has confirmed Jones is totally open to joining Inter Milan this summer, with the Italian giants retaining heavy interest and the player keen on testing himself in Serie A.
Read: Liverpool in pole position to complete signing of £42m Man Utd midfield target
Anfield chiefs have already knocked back Inter’s second offer. The club is sticking firmly to its £35 million valuation, reportedly irritated by the Nerazzurri’s lowball approach given the current market rate for central midfielders. Inter’s bids have fallen well short, lodging a €20 million (£17.3m) offer against Liverpool’s €30 million baseline demand. The financial gap remains, but a parting of ways feels entirely inevitable. Sell him for £30 million now or watch him walk away for nothing in twelve months. Iraola requires serious physical presence from his midfielders, alongside defensive grit. Jones does not fit that profile at the level the new boss expects.
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