It has been a crazy few weeks for Liverpool FC. No sooner had the 2025-2026 campaign come to a close than links to Arne Slot’s former coach, with whom he’d worked at Feyenoord, began to be linked with a move to the Reds. That seemed to indicate that the Dutchman was staying at Anfield for the following season, only for Richard Hughes and Michael Edwards to change their minds, seemingly at the eleventh hour, and hand Slot his marching orders. Personally, I think that the title-winning manager was treated quite appallingly by both large swathes of Liverpool supporters and the club’s hierarchy, with Slot reportedly believing that he was still going to be the head coach of the club up until the day that he was sacked. That is simply horrendous behaviour, whichever way you cut it. That being said, it was still better than the fans of the club who chose to boo him numerous times towards the end of the season, seemingly forgetting not only that he won us the title but also that he handled the Diogo Jota and André Silva situation superbly in difficult times.
Good luck to Arne Slot. Ten Liverpool managers have won the league title. He is one of them. He handled the passing of Jota with grace and dignity. Fuck all those fans who have hurled abuse at him and said disgusting things #LFC #YNWA
— Brian McCaul (@brianmccaul.bsky.social) 30 May 2026 at 13:05
Regardless, the decision was made, Slot was moved on and it didn’t take long before Andoni Iraola was confirmed as his replacement. There are understandable concerns from many that the Spaniard hasn’t won anything of note during his career, which has led some to question whether or not his was the right appointment. When you consider that previous names that have been on the shortlist for the Liverpool job include Eddie Howe, it is easy to see that we might well have dodged a bullet by bringing someone in who at least wants to try to play exciting and entertaining football. Whatever you think of his lack of success when it comes to trophies, Iraola unquestionably got Bournemouth playing an exciting brand of football. Yes, his run of 18 games unbeaten in the Premier League can be tempered somewhat by the fact that the Cherries were knocked out of both cups at the first opportunity and they only won three games at home from the start of November, but Liverpool have better players. We also need to strengthen, so where should we start looking?
The Attack is a Concern
We were all thrilled last summer when Liverpool secured the signing of Alexander Isak from Saudi Arabian-owned Newcastle United, but when the reality of a player who had no pre-season to speak of turned up and struggled to make any kind of impression at Anfield, it soon became clear that he wouldn’t really be able to be depended upon until his second season in Red. Hugo Ekitike, meanwhile, impressed initially before fading away, only for a ruptured Achilles to bring last season and the better part of the forthcoming one to an abrupt end. Mohamed Salah has left the club, whilst Cody Gakpo had such a poor campaign last time out that many supporters have offered to drive him to a new club. Although Rio Ngumoha might have been flirting with Bayern Munich this summer, he is still only 17 years old and depending on him would be daft, to say nothing of potentially detrimental to his long-term career. Federico Chiesa simply isn’t a serious option, with Florian Wirtz being much better suited to playing further back and dictating the play than being thought of as a forward.
Every player to have least 50 minutes for Liverpool last season, with the three senior departures highlighted. They really cannot afford to lose more senior players this summer and it would be wise to bring back Elliott and Tsimikas. Significant help needed in attack especially given Hugo’s injury.
— L@BO (@ik5v3l.bsky.social) 2 June 2026 at 08:25
In other words, there is a lot to do for Liverpool in an attacking sense. We know that Iraola likes to play with fast and dynamic wingers, which is something that the Reds simply don’t have right now. Although Ngumoha is someone who likes to play that way, the truth of the matter is that he still has plenty to learn and doesn’t defend anywhere near as much as the Spanish coach would want him to. The Ivory Coast’s Yan Diomande is one name that continues to be linked with a move to Anfield, even whilst the player himself has been talking about his desire to play for Paris Saint-Germain and a piece tag of £100 million plus has been placed on his head by RB Leipzig. If PSG do get Diomande before Liverpool can manage to do so, we might well be able to prize Bradley Barcola from their hands. Bazoumana Touré is another winger that the Reds are reportedly looking at, whilst relegated West Ham United could be keen to offload Crysencio Summerville over the next couple of months. In my opinion, we need to be bringing in at least three attackers over the summer.
Midfield Isn’t as Locked In as People Think
If you were to pick one area that Liverpool seem to be reasonable comfortable in right now, you would probably point to the midfield. Although we know that Alisson Becker is sticking around for another year, he hasn’t convinced and is an injury concern, whilst nobody seems to be blown away by the performances of Giorgi Mamardashvili. Virgil van Dijk is another year older and the departure of Ibrahima Konaté, combined with Joe Gomez’s constant fitness concerns and the fact that both Giovanni Leoni and Jeremy Jacquet are untested in the Premier League, Conor Bradley’s injury is worse than feared and Jeremie Frimpong hasn’t looked great at right-back, means that the defence is on shaky ground at the moment. Even so, it is arguably the midfield where Andoni Iraola might want to put the majority of his focus. The only player that can play with anywhere near the level of dynamism that the Spanish coach requires is Dominik Szoboszlai. The idea of asking Alexis Mac Allister to put a huge amount of running and pressing in seems like a bit of a joke right now.
Liverpool still need the midfield platform and passing ability to get the best out of players like Wirtz, Isak, and potentially Diomande. Their build up and ability to play quick vertical football with purpose and urgency is so poor. Midfield needs 2 top operators brought in.
— stevemcveigh.bsky.social (@stevemcveigh.bsky.social) 22 May 2026 at 19:58
Then there’s the fact that Wataru Endō has outlasted his usefulness, Harvey Elliott is too small to be considered a serious option in the battling world of the Premier League and Curtis Jones has one foot in Italy, if reports are to be believed. Although both Trey Nyoni and Stefan Bajcetic have looked like real prospects in the past, they are similar to the defensive pair of Leoni and Jacquet in the sense that they haven’t proven that they can do it at the top level. We know that Iraola likes his players to do a huge amount of running, so we need numbers all over the park. The midfield is the lifeblood of his teams, getting back to help out the defence as well as bolstering attacks and it’s difficult to see anyone other than Szoboszlai doing that out of the current options. Perhaps Gravenberch could, should Iraola choose to release him from the defensive midfielder position that he carried out so well in the title winning season. If that is to be the case then we need to bring in a genuine destroyer to sniff out the danger and deal with it before it happens. A lot of work to be done, then.
