Liverpool's New Era: Old Questions and Transfer Concerns
The season has only just cleared its throat and already Anfield feels tense. A new head coach in Andoni Iraola, a fresh voice on the touchline, the same old noise around the squad. Liverpool are up and running, but not yet convincing, and the clock is ticking towards a transfer deadline that suddenly looks like judgment day.
Nottingham Forest arrive on Saturday for Iraola’s first competitive home game. The League Cup looms. The Champions League waits just around the corner. Yet the conversation, almost inevitably, keeps circling back to the same issues: recruitment, midfield balance, injuries, and a fanbase wondering how a club that once set the market’s tempo now seems to be reacting to it.
The Salah Succession Plan That Never Quite Landed
One question hangs over everything: Mohamed Salah is gone, so why are Liverpool still scrambling for a right winger with days left in the window?
The answer is uncomfortable because it shows the plan existed — and still failed.
Liverpool did move early. They identified Yan Diomande as Salah’s long-term heir at the start of the summer. The Ivorian was attainable, the player wanted the move, and the club had every reason to believe they were in a strong position. Then RB Leipzig named their price. It was sky-high. From there, the transfer turned into a familiar modern saga.
Diomande, buoyed by interest from Paris Saint-Germain as well, effectively used both Liverpool and PSG as leverage to engineer a move to Real Madrid. Harsh, but not unusual. He will not be the first to do it, and he certainly will not be the last.
That setback left Liverpool on the back foot. Attention turned to Bradley Barcola, but PSG again stood in the way, this time as sellers. They demanded big money, and Liverpool were unwilling to blink first.
The result? A club that knew for a long time Salah would need replacing is now chasing wide options in the final days of the window. Others are doing the same across the Premier League, but that doesn’t soften the optics. For a club that once prided itself on being two steps ahead, this feels reactive, not ruthless.
Iraola’s Midfield: No Fixed “Best”, Only What Works Next
If the attack looks incomplete, the midfield looks unsettled by design.
There is no obvious “best” trio under Iraola, and that might be the point. The new coach appears ready to embrace a horses-for-courses approach, something Jurgen Klopp used to lean on in his later years at Anfield. Different opponents, different problems, different solutions.
Alexis Mac Allister, Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai are the three heavyweights in the deeper roles. They are competing for two positions, with Szoboszlai also a leading candidate to operate as the No 10 when Florian Wirtz is not used there.
Behind them, the options thin out quickly. Wataru Endo has started only two Premier League games in more than two seasons. Trey Nyoni carries plenty of promise but has yet to start a top-flight match. The gap between potential and proven quality is obvious.
From the outside, the need for a specialist defensive midfielder has been glaring for over a year. Inside, the club has so far chosen to ride with what it has. Iraola may be flexible, but even the most adaptable system needs a solid anchor. Right now, that anchor still hasn’t arrived.
Richard Hughes and a Sporting Director Void
Uncertainty doesn’t stop at the pitch. It runs straight into the boardroom.
There is a growing expectation that Richard Hughes will leave his role as sporting director once the summer window closes, with Al Hilal in the Saudi Pro League viewed as his most likely destination. For a club already wrestling with key squad decisions, losing the man in charge of recruitment would be another jolt at an awkward time.
What happens next is far less clear. Liverpool have cycled through several sporting directors in recent years and could turn inwards again. Julian Ward, currently technical director for Fenway Sports Group, is one obvious internal option. But there is no indication yet that a successor is lined up or a smooth handover is imminent.
A club that once boasted one of the most admired recruitment structures in Europe now faces another reset in a crucial department.
Gakpo, Isak and a Risky Numbers Game Up Front
Then there is Cody Gakpo. The idea of selling him right now feels, at best, counterintuitive.
Liverpool need more attacking depth, not less. Entertaining the departure of Gakpo only makes sense if the player himself wants to leave. Given the criticism he absorbed from sections of the fanbase last season, that scenario would hardly be shocking.
Yet his early-season form tells a different story. Gakpo looks like a player intent on proving a point, not packing his bags. If he were to go, Liverpool would have to bring in at least two forwards, with one effectively serving as permanent backup to Alexander Isak until Hugo Ekitike returns from injury.
That is a delicate balance to strike in the final days of a window. Especially for a team already short in wide areas.
Injuries: Caution, Caution, and More Caution
The injury list offers little comfort.
Hugo Ekitike has circled Boxing Day as his own comeback target, but the nature of his Achilles problem suggests Liverpool will not see the best of him until next season. Anything earlier would be a bonus, not a guarantee.
Conor Bradley has been sidelined since early January. The club are determined not to overload him on his return, knowing how important his long-term fitness is at right-back.
Giovanni Leoni is edging closer to rejoining first-team training after almost a year out, yet he too will be handled with extreme care. Minutes will be rationed before Christmas.
Joe Gomez is expected back before the rest, but his month-long absence is another concern for a defensive unit that can ill afford more instability.
None of these players has a firm, public timeline. That uncertainty feeds into selection headaches and transfer decisions alike.
Why the Mood Is So Dark, So Early
All of this filters back to the stands.
Supporters see a squad that still carries last season’s flaws: a midfield that can be overrun, a defence prone to the same errors that cost them at Newcastle United on the opening weekend a year ago, and a forward line now missing Salah’s guarantee of goals.
The lack of decisive movement in key areas — especially defensive midfield and the right wing — has made it hard for some fans to buy into the idea of a fresh start under Iraola, no matter how different things look in the dugout.
The window is not closed yet. A late surge of activity could change the mood almost overnight. But for the first time in years, there is a widespread acceptance of a sobering reality: few expect Liverpool to mount a serious title challenge this season.
The question now is not whether they can chase down the leaders. It is whether, in these final frantic days of the window and the early weeks of Iraola’s reign, they can build something that looks ready to do it again in the near future.
