Liverpool’s new Spanish boss is tasked with making the club title challengers again, but he faces a number of issues.
New Liverpool boss Andoni Iraola will hope his brand of high-octane attacking football can banish memories of an expensive squad that wildly underperformed in their title defence last season and is seeking to find a way back to challenging for the crown.
The new campaign gets under way on August ۲۱ when champions Arsenal host promoted Coventry City, with Liverpool’s first game at Newcastle United two days later giving their fans the first chance to see what their Spanish boss can do at the helm.
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Here are the five most pressing questions around Liverpool’s new season.
Can Iraola revive Liverpool’s title credentials while imposing his own style?
Liverpool won the league by a wide margin in ۲۰۲۴-۲۵, then finished fifth last season while conceding ۵۳ goals and losing ۱۲ matches – a collapse that duly got Arne Slot sacked.
Iraola arrives from three impressive years at Bournemouth with a high-intensity pressing style that’s been compared with peak Jurgen Klopp, and some fans will hope a return to that kind of football will suit a squad that often looked lost playing Slot’s more controlled football.
But Iraola’s style requires high levels of stamina, and he acknowledged in preseason that the players could not yet sustain the level he wanted for the duration of a game.
“We have to be a team that works hard, intense, aggressive, vertical so everyone can be identified, everyone can feel comfortable supporting this team,” Iraola told a news conference in June when he was appointed.
Who will fill the Salah-shaped hole?
Mohamed Salah’s departure after nine years, following a public falling-out with the club during a miserable season, closes the door on an otherwise glorious and goal-filled chapter in Liverpool’s history.
Rather than buying a direct replacement, Liverpool have signed ۲۳-year-old Spain international Victor Munoz to offer cover across the front line and wings, while academy products like Rio Ngumoha are pushing for minutes.
Jeremie Frimpong also played on the right wing last season with limited success. So the stage is set for a breakout season for Munoz or Ngumoha.
Can Iraola get a tune out of Isak and Wirtz?
Liverpool’s record signings of Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz were meant to fire a title defence and instead delivered a season marred by injuries and inconsistent form that neither player will want to remember.
Both are now fit and back for preseason and, on paper, Iraola’s approach should suit Wirtz’s work-rate and give Isak the kind of service he thrived on at Newcastle.
If they click, Liverpool will justify last season’s outlay and this preseason’s relative inactivity in the transfer market. If they struggle again, big questions will be asked over the recruitment strategy.
Has the leaky defence been fixed?
Liverpool’s defence was a major factor in last season’s collapse and requires an urgent fix from Iraola. To that end, he has brought in centre-back Ronald Araujo on a season-long loan from Barcelona to partner captain Virgil van Dijk, as well as the young French centre-back Jeremy Jacquet, while allowing the erratic Ibrahima Konate to leave.
Right-back remains a concern – Frimpong struggled with injuries and for form last season, while Conor Bradley also had fitness woes, leaving Iraola potentially still short of a specialist option there.
Left-back Milos Kerkez will also be expected to step up through the gears after an underwhelming season, while Liverpool will miss the experience of the departing Andy Robertson.
Iraola’s high defensive line will ask serious questions about pace and positioning at the back, and he does not have much time to get it right.
Van Dijk said the club’s revamped backline would require some time to click into gear.
“It’s pretty clear that you need to form a connection together and take a bit of time. But it’s, in my opinion, absolutely normal. But hopefully, we can get that going as quickly as possible,” he said.
What does the Bezos investment mean for the club?
Fenway Sports Group has agreed to sell roughly ۳۸ percent of Liverpool to ۱۸۹۲ Holdings, a consortium including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Facebook cofounder Eduardo Saverin, and the Mittal family, in a deal that values the club at more than $۷bn.
FSG retains majority ownership and operational control for now, but the consortium has an option to become the club’s controlling shareholder within the next year at a valuation closer to $۸bn.
The timing of the deal, coming just as Iraola begins a rebuild and after a summer that has looked notably thrifty compared with last year’s huge transfer outlay, has already fuelled speculation about potential new investment for January or next summer’s transfer windows.
