Liverpool have a customary management meeting at the start of September, just after the transfer window closes, and the tone of it is currently subject to one main aim.
The football hierarchy, led by Richard Hughes, know the squad just has to be bigger. It’s an absolute priority, with a week of the window remaining, and there’s a pressure. Within that, though, there’s also a problem.
There are multiple areas to focus on, without that much money to spend. This is a strangely thin and lopsided squad. As one source says, “it’s like they’re in a boat with six different leaks but which one do you plug?” If they spend the available budget in one or two areas, they’re short in another.
That is potentially compounded by the way that Andoni Iraola plays. While Liverpool are most obviously shallow at full-back and central midfield, the Basque manager’s ideal football is so intense that you really need proper back-up in every outfield position to apply it to its maximum. Otherwise, necessary overuse can bring injury.
Liverpool consequently have to bolster so many areas, but would have to get very creative to do them all. In other words, they’re going to have to choose.
And that certainly isn’t from the notionally strategic targeting of stars that we saw last summer.
The fact that Newcastle United were the first opposition, with Alexander Isak a central dramatic figure but a fringe performer in that 2-2 draw, only emphasises a contrast that many in the market have been commenting on.
This time last year, Liverpool were the picture of largesse, with industry figures talking about how they were taking an entire project – and an idea – to “maturation”.
They were gearing up to pay a record Premier League fee for Isak, at £125m, having already spent almost £200m on attackers. More than that, they were apparently “zagging” when everyone was “zigging”; exactly the kind of counter-intuitive approach that keeps you on top; opting for individual quality when other teams were going for team control.
It’s instead incredible how quickly they’ve fallen behind, while supposed maturation has just seen the squad seem smaller in size.
This consequently looks set to be a frantic final week, where Liverpool just can’t be as calculated as last year.
Many might quip that could be a good thing, given the knock-on effects of last summer’s window – and how they’ve even played into this market’s difficulties – are still being felt.
Such circumstances have nevertheless raised surprise that Liverpool have been so intent on Paris Saint-Germain’s Bradley Barcola, given that the Qatari-owned project want well in excess of £110m. It was that price which put Arsenal off.
Such a deal could be offset by the sale of Cody Gakpo, in one of many situations in this market that almost resembles a housing-market chain. Manchester City remain interested.
The focus on a winger also points to just how much Iraola’s own coaching prioritises attack, especially for how the “chaos” that creates can tilt the tactical shape of an entire match. Put simply, if you are forcing the opposition to constantly think about your attack, they can’t put your defence under the same pressure. It’s Liverpool going with it, embracing the rock and roll again.
For all the reservations, this is exactly what they appointed Iraola for.
Others would now take a more conservative view, and point to how the set-up threatens to repeatedly leave Iraola’s side susceptible to the kind of breakaways that Newcastle United enjoyed on Sunday.
Reflecting some of the wider issues, however, Liverpool do actually have a top target for defensive midfield.
Multiple sources say that is Iraola’s hinge player at Bournemouth, Alex Scott.
A complication is that they can’t currently pay the kind of fee that even make the south-coast club consider a sale, estimated at around £90m. As such, there’s a sense that Liverpool will wait until next year, and make do in the way that Arne Slot did in 2024-25. Ryan Gravenberch may become newly important again.
There is a risk to that, if it’s Scott they absolutely want, since Chelsea are one of many clubs extremely keen on the 23-year-old. Bournemouth have so far warned off all suitors, insisting they won’t even entertain bids in this window, but Chelsea are considering whether to test that with a high offer.
At the least, Iraola has proven he is a coach who is very good at making do. He doesn’t publicly complain, and has repeatedly shown a willingness to tactically compromise.
It’s why so many executives have been describing him as a “dream appointment” in the modern environment, that is so dominated by directors and executives.
Duly, Hughes and the Liverpool hierarchy are arguably coming under much greater pressure than the coach.
There’s still a difference between tactically compromising for an upwardly mobile mid-table side like Bournemouth, and doing it for Liverpool. The demands are bigger, the needs are greater.
Right now, Liverpool arguably need around six players, for a best-case scenario. The current thinking from various sources is that they’ll end up with a net addition of two, potentially meaning three incomings and one sale.
There’s a hope that would be enough to make “a huge difference”. Otherwise, in the words of one source, “there’s going to be a lot of concerned faces” at that September meeting.
