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Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola
Andoni Iraola has admitted that his Liverpool side “cannot sustain the level we want” for long enough after throwing away another commanding lead in a pre-season defeat.
After beating Sunderland and Wrexham in their tour of the United States, Iraola‘s side seemed to be cruising to a comfortable victory over Leeds United when they went 2-0 up earlier this month.
However, the Reds suffered an alarming drop in quality and defensive solidity as they went down to a 4-2 defeat to Leeds in a poor second-half showing.
And it was more of the same on Sunday at Anfield as, after Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz put the Merseyside outfit two goals to the good within the first half hour, they proceeded to lose 3-2 to Monaco.
Liverpool have spent just under £90m on signings this summer and forked out more than £400m on players ahead of the 2025-26 season but it seems Iraola has more questions than answers right now.
“It was quite similar to the game we played against Leeds,” the former Bournemouth boss told LFC TV after the match. “We played a good first half, especially a good 30 minutes. Right now we probably don’t have much more, in terms of the levels required to play like this. They deserved to turn around the game.
“We won the first two pre-season games, but the last two we cannot sustain the level we want for all of the game. As soon as we made some changes, players start to get tired and we cannot sustain that level. So, we have work to do.”
Many fans feel that Liverpool need more defensive signings, even though Ronald Araujo is set to join on loan from Barcelona. But with Joe Gomez, Conor Bradley, and Giovanni Leoni out injured, along with summer signing Jeremy Jacquet yet to feature in pre-season, concerns are not going away.
Inter Milan not close to signing Curtis Jones
While reinforcements are needed, Inter Milan are reportedly not giving up on Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones, who is into the last year of his Anfield contract.
The 25-year-old is yet to sign a contract extension and the Italian giants are carefully monitoring his situation. But according to Fabrizio Romano, a deal is not close as Liverpool want £34m for him and Inter are not prepared to pay that.
He said on his YouTube channel on Sunday, “Curtis Jones remains Inter’s target for the midfield. Other teams are calling, for sure, but today, Inter aren’t close to signing Curtis Jones.
“There is still a gap in valuations, and Liverpool aren’t budging from €40m (£34m). Liverpool want that amount, otherwise they won’t even sit at the table. Inter are currently at lower figures. €40m remains the magic number to convince Liverpool and Inter hasn’t reached that yet.”
Romano added that Inter need to sell before they can buy a player like Jones, who has been on their transfer wish list since the winter.