Liverpool have a decision to make in January, though for now it looks like one they would rather not take.
Andoni Iraola, head coach of Liverpool, interacts with Ifeanyi Ndukwe of Liverpool following the Liverpool v AS Monaco Pre-Season friendly match at Anfield, Liverpool, England on 9 August 2026 Credit: Ben Roberts/Every Second Media
Andoni Iraola, head coach of Liverpool, interacts with Ifeanyi Ndukwe of Liverpool following the Liverpool v AS Monaco Pre-Season friendly match at Anfield, Liverpool, England on 9 August 2026 Credit: Ben Roberts/Every Second Media
Liverpool have a decision to make in January, though for now it looks like one they would rather not take.
According to Spanish journalist Nacho Sanchis, the Reds included a clause in a summer loan deal that lets them bring one of their young centre backs back to Merseyside in the winter window.
They do not need the other club’s permission to use it. The clause has not been ruled out, but it does not look like the plan either.
Liverpool officials were in Valencia on Thursday, mainly to discuss Harvey Elliott’s loan at Mestalla and they also made a stop at Levante, and that is where the defender came up.
By the end of the meeting, Sanchis reports, both clubs were happy for him to stay put.
The recall would only come into play if injuries hit Liverpool’s back line hard before January.
Liverpool agreed a deal with Austria Wien for Ifeanyi Ndukwe back in January for an initial fee reported to be around €3 million, beating Inter to his signature.
Still 17 at the time, he had to wait until he turned 18 in March and then impressed during a summer trial with Andoni Iraola’s squad, but without a work permit Liverpool sent him to Spain in August, with his agent, Georg Lederer, saying minutes were the priority and that the club wanted him at a side that defends in a high pressing system, “a bit like what you see in Liverpool.”
It took a little while for the minutes to come as Ndukwe sat on the bench for Levante’s first three games before making his debut in a 4–2 defeat to Barcelona in September.
He has played in every match since, totalling 314 minutes across five appearances. For a defender who had made just one senior appearance for Austria Wien, that is a decent start in La Liga.
Iraola, it seems, would rather he kept going.
Ndukwe is getting the kind of regular football he would almost certainly not get at Anfield this season, where Virgil van Dijk, Ronald Araujo and summer signing Jeremy Jacquet are ahead of him.
Levante journalist Eric Martín Gasulla adds that Liverpool would have to compensate the Spanish side if they cut the loan short, which is another reason not to rush.
Still, the clause is there for a reason.
Liverpool’s injury list has been long this autumn, and Giovanni Leoni is still working his way back from a serious knee injury. If a couple more defenders go down before the new year, a 6ft 5in teenager who is already used to Iraola’s ideas could be a handy option to recall.
For now, though, the most likely outcome is that he spends the whole season in Spain.
El #Liverpool puede cortar la cesión de Ifeanyi Ndukwe de manera unilateral en enero
Pero tras la reunión ayer con el @LevanteUD NO está sobre la mesa hacerlo. Quieren que siga sumando minutos.
Solo se dará si hay muchas lesiones en la zaga ‘red’ de aquí a enero.
— Nacho Sanchis (@sanchis14) October 23, 2026
El #Liverpool puede cortar la cesión de Ifeanyi Ndukwe de manera unilateral en enero
Pero tras la reunión ayer con el @LevanteUD NO está sobre la mesa hacerlo. Quieren que siga sumando minutos.
Solo se dará si hay muchas lesiones en la zaga ‘red’ de aquí a enero.
— Nacho Sanchis (@sanchis14) October 23, 2026
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