Liverpool head into their last pre-season friendly of the summer with a growing injury list to manage, as Andoni Iraola prepares for his first fixtures in charge of the club following his move from Bournemouth. The visit of Como to Anfield represents the final chance for the new manager to run the rule over his squad before the Premier League campaign gets under way, and it comes at a moment when his options in certain areas of the pitch are notably stretched.
The most pressing concern for Iraola heading into this game is at centre-back, where the club finds itself unusually short of fit, senior options. Three separate fitness issues have combined to leave Virgil van Dijk as the only recognised centre-half available for selection in the build-up to the Como match — a situation that would be considered a genuine headache for any Premier League club heading into the opening weeks of a new season, let alone one adjusting to a new head coach and a different tactical approach.
Central to that defensive squeeze is the ongoing uncertainty over Jeremy Jacquet. The player, signed for a reported £60 million from Rennes, has yet to feature at all in pre-season for his new club. His first season on Merseyside was disrupted by a shoulder problem, and he has now been troubled by a separate, unspecified issue that kept him out of the recent 3-2 defeat to Monaco. There is, however, a note of encouragement: Jacquet has returned to full training in the days leading into the Como fixture, which raises the possibility that he could finally make his long-awaited Liverpool debut in front of the Anfield crowd. Given the size of his transfer fee and the expectation that comes with it, his eventual introduction to the side will be watched closely by supporters keen to see what he offers once fully up to speed.
Iraola’s response to the defensive shortage has been to move in the transfer market himself, bringing in Barcelona’s Ronald Araujo on a loan deal. Bringing in defensive cover on loan, rather than committing to a permanent deal, suggests the club may be treating this as a short-term patch while its longer-term centre-back options — Jacquet included — work their way back to full fitness.
The list of absentees at the back doesn’t end there. Giovanni Leoni remains a long-term absentee as he works his way back from an ACL injury, an injury that has kept him out of action since he suffered it on his senior debut for the club in last season’s Carabao Cup. Cruciate ligament injuries typically carry recovery timelines stretching well beyond a single pre-season, so Leoni’s return is likely to be a gradual process monitored carefully by the club’s medical staff rather than something that resolves in time for the start of the new campaign.
Joe Gomez adds to the list of concerns. He was forced off during Liverpool’s 4-2 win over Sunderland, replaced by youngster Ifeanyi Ndukwe, and the nature of the injury — described as muscular — means he is considered likely to miss the beginning of the new season. For a club already down to one fit senior centre-back, losing Gomez to what sounds like a soft-tissue problem only adds to the sense that defensive reinforcements, whether from within the existing squad or via further recruitment, may become an increasingly urgent conversation
With so many senior defensive options unavailable, Iraola has turned to some of the club’s younger players to fill the gaps during pre-season. Ndukwe, who came on for the injured Gomez against Sunderland, has been a visible feature of the squad’s recent matches. He’s been joined by fellow new arrival Talla Ndiaye and academy product Luke Chambers, both of whom have also seen minutes over the course of the summer schedule. For a manager still getting to grips with his squad, this kind of enforced exposure to younger players isn’t necessarily unwelcome — pre-season friendlies are, after all, an opportunity to assess depth as much as they are to build match sharpness among the first-choice group. Whether any of these younger defenders end up as regular options once the season begins in earnest will likely depend on how quickly the senior options return to fitness.
The defensive picture has also been reshaped by outgoing business. Ibrahima Konate’s departure at the end of his contract, on a free transfer to Real Madrid, removed another experienced centre-back from the equation entirely. Losing an established defender for no fee, at the same time as several others are sidelined through injury, goes some way to explaining why the current setup looks so threadbare — and why Iraola felt compelled to add Araujo on loan even in the final days before the new season starts.
Central defence isn’t the only area where Iraola has selection questions to answer. Curtis Jones has been managing a hip injury that kept him out of the defeat to Monaco, though he has since returned to training ahead of the Como game. Jones’s fitness situation has taken on added significance given continued reports linking him with a move to Inter Milan — a subplot that adds an extra layer of intrigue to his recovery, since any transfer speculation involving a player carrying a knock naturally raises questions about squad planning as much as it does about individual game time.
There’s a further layer of uncertainty involving two players who spent their summer on international duty rather than in pre-season training with the club. Alexis Mac Allister and Victor Munoz have both rejoined the Liverpool squad after their respective nations reached the World Cup final. International tournaments that go all the way to the final stage typically mean a shortened close-season and a heavier accumulated workload for the players involved, so it isn’t unusual for clubs to be cautious about reintroducing such players into full training and matches too quickly. Liverpool appear to be taking exactly that approach, with both players’ fitness levels set to be closely monitored rather than assumed.
Two more players remain unavailable regardless of how the Como game unfolds. Conor Bradley continues his recovery from a knee injury, while Hugo Ekitike is sidelined with a serious Achilles problem — the kind of injury that typically rules a player out for a significant portion of a season rather than a matter of weeks. Neither is expected to factor into Iraola’s plans for the opening period of the new Premier League campaign, adding to the list of players unavailable for selection as the season proper approaches
Away from the defensive and midfield concerns, there is some good news for Iraola. Van Dijk returned to action in the defeat to Monaco, as did first-choice goalkeeper Alisson, meaning two of the squad’s most important senior figures are back involved after their own respective fitness spells. Their return offers a degree of stability at either end of the pitch even as the centre-back injury list continues to bite in between.
With two fixtures scheduled for the same day — a behind-closed-doors match in the morning followed by a separately ticketed friendly in the evening — Iraola faces an interesting selection dilemma. It remains to be seen whether he’ll choose to field something close to his strongest available XI across both matches, potentially rotating heavily between the two, or whether he’ll use the low-key opening fixture purely as a testing ground for fringe players before fielding a more recognisable side in the evening game in front of the Anfield crowd. What the squad lacks in experienced backup at present, it does at least have some compensation for in the form of the promising younger players who have already featured prominently throughout the summer’s friendlies.
Stepping back from the injury list itself, there’s a broader storyline running through Liverpool’s pre-season: this is Iraola’s first opportunity to shape a matchday squad at his new club, and he’s doing so against a backdrop of unusual defensive disruption. Managers arriving at a new club typically hope for at least a settled group of senior players to assess in the opening weeks, allowing them to establish patterns of play and settle on a preferred starting shape before injuries start to bite. Iraola, by contrast, is being asked to do that work with only one fit senior centre-back and question marks hanging over key midfielders following a long international summer.
That context makes the predicted lineup below more of a snapshot of necessity than a settled first-choice unit. Positions like centre-back, where Iraola would ordinarily have several senior options to rotate and assess, are instead being filled by a mix of the club’s few fit specialists and versatile squad players capable of covering there in a pinch. How the team performs and holds up defensively against Como may offer an early hint at how Iraola intends to set his side up once the Premier League campaign begins in earnest — and how much he’s willing to trust his younger defensive options if the senior injury list doesn’t clear up quickly.
Alisson; Frimpong, Jacquet, van Dijk, Kerkez; Szoboszlai, Gravenberch; Ngumouha, Wirtz, Gakpo; Isak
Doubts: Jacquet, Jones, Mac Allister, Munoz
Injured: Bradley, Leoni, Ekitike, Gomez, Danns
Kick-off times: Behind-closed-doors match at 11:30am BST, followed by the ticketed friendly at 6pm BST, both on Sunday, August 16, 2026