As autumn has arrived, Andoni Iraola has quickly reached the point of his first Liverpool season where adept management of his squad is required. And yes, reading that sentence back in August may have sounded like it was about to be followed by a punchline. Liverpool? Squad? What Liverpool squad?
Iraola himself admitted before the start of the season that Liverpool’s options were “quite thin” and their only arrival after that was the £123m signing of Bradley Barcola, another high-class addition, but one who could not possibly bolster Liverpool’s numbers on his own. At a time where Premier League champions Arsenal and Manchester City have built depth, spreading their spending across multiple areas, Liverpool have turned the other way in assembling a team of three £100m+ signings in Barcola, Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz. They ended the transfer window without signing a midfielder, despite the departure of Curtis Jones. While others stockpiled, Liverpool’s gaps remained evident when the window closed.
