Iraola's Champions League Call: Ekitike In, Chiesa and Endo Out
Andoni Iraola has nailed his colours to the mast in Europe. Hugo Ekitike is in. Federico Chiesa and Wataru Endo are out.
Liverpool’s manager has named his 25-man squad for the Champions League League Phase, and it’s a list that quietly reveals plenty about where he thinks this team is heading – and who will be on the journey with him.
Ekitike’s Long Road Back – and a Clear Vote of Confidence
Ekitike has not kicked a ball for Liverpool since rupturing his Achilles in April. It was a brutal injury, the kind that usually wipes out most of a year and raises questions about how a forward will move, jump, and explode off the mark when he finally returns.
The France international underwent surgery and has been working his way through the long, lonely rehab process. Liverpool’s official line, as of September 3, is that there is no set date for his comeback. No countdown, no circled day on the calendar.
Yet Iraola has chosen to reserve a precious Champions League slot for him.
That tells its own story. With Liverpool’s final League Phase fixture against RC Lens at Anfield on January 27, the inclusion of Ekitike is a clear indication that Iraola expects – or at least strongly believes – the striker will be ready to contribute before this stage of the competition is done.
This is not a sentimental gesture. European squads are tight, every place contested. Managers rarely carry passengers. Ekitike’s name on that list is a statement: Liverpool plan for him to matter this season, not just in some distant future.
Chiesa Left Waiting on the Outside
The flip side is harsher.
Federico Chiesa has been left out. The Italian winger is currently injured, but he is expected back in training after the September international break. On paper, that should have given him a chance to feature in at least part of the League Phase.
Iraola has chosen otherwise.
Chiesa’s omission underlines how far his stock has fallen at Anfield. Once seen as a marquee attacking option, he now finds himself watching Europe from the outside, with no guarantee of regular minutes in domestic competitions either.
The decision doesn’t just speak to his fitness. It speaks to trust. In a squad packed with attacking options, Iraola has effectively decided that, even when available, Chiesa is not central to his Champions League plan.
For a player of his pedigree, that is a brutal reality.
Endo Frozen Out
If Chiesa’s exclusion can be partly dressed up as an injury call, Wataru Endo’s cannot.
The Japan international is fit, training, and ready to play. Iraola still left him out of the 25.
Endo arrived as a stopgap, then earned a reputation as a cult figure – committed, tidy, reliable in difficult moments. Yet that goodwill has not translated into trust at the very top level of Iraola’s thinking. Leaving out a fully fit defensive midfielder from a European squad sends a clear message: he is not in the core rotation.
Jamie Carragher had already sounded the alarm. Speaking on The Overlap, the former Liverpool defender claimed Liverpool had “two players in the squad who are never going to play” – naming Chiesa and Endo, and arguing Endo “should have been moved on” despite calling him “a bit of a cult hero.”
Iraola’s Champions League list appears to echo that verdict. Not in words, but in the one language elite football understands: selection.
Futures in the Balance at Anfield
For Chiesa and Endo, the picture is stark. Omitted from Europe, unlikely to see heavy minutes in the league or domestic cups, both now stare at uncertain futures at Anfield.
For Ekitike, the mood is very different. Still in rehab, still without a return date, yet trusted enough to be carried into Europe as a potential weapon for the second half of the campaign.
One striker on the mend, backed to make an impact by January. Two senior players on the fringes, drifting towards the exit.
Iraola has drawn his lines early. Now the season will reveal who can cross back over them – and who will be gone before they get the chance.
