There are just two and a half weeks until the first ball of Premier League action is kicked, and Andoni Iraola has serious cause to feel hung out to dry.
The new Liverpool manager has been clock-watching, waiting for his senior internationals to return from an extended World Cup break while knowing time is against his playing style embedded throughout the squad.
Oh, and he also has hardly any players.
The increased difficulties of pulling off transfer business during an international tournament are well known, but the World Cup concluded almost three weeks ago.
What have Liverpool been doing? It is a question everybody now fully has the right to ask.
CHICAGO, USA - Sunday, August 2, 2026: Liverpool's Luke Chambers celebrates after scoring the first goal during a pre-season friendly match between Liverpool FC and Leeds United at Soldier Field. Leeds won 4-2. (Photo by Amanda McMaster/Propaganda)
CHICAGO, USA - Sunday, August 2, 2026: Liverpool's Luke Chambers celebrates after scoring the first goal during a pre-season friendly match between Liverpool FC and Leeds United at Soldier Field. Leeds won 4-2. (Photo by Amanda McMaster/Propaganda)
Iraola might have inherited some world-class footballers, but the threadbare nature of the squad across all positions currently looks like some sort of warped psychological experiment, pushing scarcity tactics to the nth degree.
Threadbare squad is so obvious to opponents
It was well documented last season how far short Liverpool were falling. Both players pencilled in as right-back candidates, Jeremie Frimpong and Conor Bradley, each missed huge stretches of the campaign through injury.
No fewer than six different players stood in at full-back during Arne Slot’s ill-fated final season, with an immediate knock-on effect felt across the midfield as a result.
At centre-back, injuries came and went. Joe Gomez and Ibrahima Konate took turns in the treatment room, with the then 34-year-old skipper Virgil van Dijk playing every single minute as a result.
Konate has since been allowed to leave, as has fellow defender and experienced stalwart Andy Robertson.
No senior midfield additions have been made, while the only help Iraola has been handed up front comes in the form of young winger Victor Munoz via a simple transfer clause activation.
Liverpool will still be without £75 million man Hugo Ekitike for several months, while the greatest goalscorer in recent club and Premier League history, Mohamed Salah, has waved goodbye.
In what world would all this not signal cause for panic?
Bradley Barcola, PSG (Image: UEFA)
Bradley Barcola, PSG (Image: UEFA)
Talk of Bradley Barcola may be providing the dopamine hits for the speculation addicts, but right now that feels like sprinkling glitter on top of a bin fire.
Defensive dereliction of duty is going to trip Liverpool up first
As it stands, Van Dijk is starting the season not knowing who he can play alongside. New signing Jeremy Jacquet has not yet been risked in pre-season, while Giovanni Leoni’s return is still being managed following a serious ACL rupture.
These two young gems, costing £85m between them, are seen as the defensive future of European football. The Liverpool hierarchy appear confident enough, but that doesn’t help Iraola right now.
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Saturday, May 9, 2026: Liverpool's captain Virgil van Dijk during the FA Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Chelsea FC at Anfield. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Saturday, May 9, 2026: Liverpool's captain Virgil van Dijk during the FA Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Chelsea FC at Anfield. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
The bleak reality is the one player who put in the most minutes for Liverpool so far in pre-season, Austrian defender Ifeanyi Ndukwe, isn’t even eligible to feature this year.
An injury to Van Dijk, who turned 35 last month, would all but paralyse the Reds. This is without mentioning the fitness record of Alisson Becker in goal, who has routinely missed a portion of each of his seasons at Anfield.
Eleventh-hour recruitment may yet still occur but Liverpool’s transfer gurus already ought to hold their hands up here; it’s been a monumental failure so far.
Liverpool have not sniffed at any easy market opportunities this summer.
Marcos Senesi, who played under Iraola at Bournemouth, moved to Tottenham as a free agent; Premier League old hat John Stones was also available for nothing and the highly rated prodigy Luka Vuskovic was able to join Brighton for £50m.
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Saturday, May 9, 2026: Liverpool's sporting director Richard Hughes during the FA Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Chelsea FC at Anfield. The game ended in a 1-1 draw. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Saturday, May 9, 2026: Liverpool's sporting director Richard Hughes during the FA Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Chelsea FC at Anfield. The game ended in a 1-1 draw. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
Chelsea took centre back Maxence Lacroix from Crystal Palace, while Van Dijk’s international teammate, Nathan Ake, left Man City.
Options have been available, it cannot be said otherwise. So what are Liverpool doing?
The last 12 months taught all those with eyes that Frimpong is perhaps not a long-term right-back solution, yet his delicate hamstrings are already being bet upon to last the course of the campaign, under a new boss who demands constant back and forth pressing.
It all feels like a cursed ship being told to set sail.
Liverpool don’t replace players anymore
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Sunday, May 24, 2026: Liverpool's Mohamed Salah is greeted by the bench as he is substituted off during the FA Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Brentford FC at Anfield. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Sunday, May 24, 2026: Liverpool's Mohamed Salah is greeted by the bench as he is substituted off during the FA Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Brentford FC at Anfield. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
There is now a long list of infractions: Fabinho, Luis Diaz, Trent Alexander-Arnold and, most recently, Konate – each was crucial first-team personnel and each never replaced.
There will always be the argument from above that Liverpool are a constantly transitioning and reshaping team, with like-for-like replacements not always required depending upon the desired direction of travel.
That reasoning would hold weight if Liverpool had recruited elsewhere and shown evidence of building around a new template.
The writing has been on the wall for too long; Konate’s contract had been beyond uncertain for the last year, Salah agreed his emotional Anfield exit as far back as March and Ekitike suffered his major Achilles injury in April.
The club’s medical department have also constantly updated the situation regarding Bradley at right-back and pushed his expected return date back again and again.
And so Liverpool make the trip up to Newcastle on August 23 not really knowing what they are.
They have spent the past month implementing a very physical and demanding style of the new manager while knowing full well that the vast majority of the squad won’t be in the starting XI.
Liverpool could yet break their club transfer record again and have Barcola smiling for the cameras with a red shirt in hand within the fortnight, but it won’t be enough.
CHICAGO, USA - Sunday, August 2, 2026: Liverpool's Jeremie Frimpong speaks to head coach Andoni Iraola (R) during a pre-season friendly match between Liverpool FC and Leeds United at Soldier Field. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
CHICAGO, USA - Sunday, August 2, 2026: Liverpool's Jeremie Frimpong speaks to head coach Andoni Iraola (R) during a pre-season friendly match between Liverpool FC and Leeds United at Soldier Field. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
There will be hope that Iraola can improve with the tools at his disposal as the season goes on and familiarity increases, but such a dearth in weaponry right now can only spell a wayward start.
Let it not be forgotten that this is a manager who endured a horror start at Bournemouth and went without a win in his first nine matches.
Liverpool will dearly hope that history won’t repeat itself with the likes of Dominik Szoboszlai, Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak in the squad.
Either way, everyone has to pull their weight at the start of a new era and the dealmakers have not held up their end of the agreement.
Iraola is being sent into a sword fight blindfolded and armed with a blunted breadknife. It could be a long few months ahead.