Liverpool FC Forum

We go again 

Liverpool
25 July: Liverpool v Sunderland (Geodis Park, Nashville, 23:00)

29 July: Liverpool v Wrexham (Yankee Stadium, New York, 00:30)

2 August: Liverpool v Leeds (Soldier Field, Chicago, 21:00)

9 August: Liverpool v Monaco (Anfield, Liverpool, 14:30)

16 August: Liverpool v Como (Anfield, Liverpool 18:00)



Timings like the WC 

Gomez injured 7 minutes into pre season. We all love Joe, but we can't rely on him next season. Hopefully one of the new lads we signed last season can step up.

Good first game, three well worked goals. I must say Szoboszlai looks like what a captain should be… giving instructions and switched on to what needed to be done.

UvS xR4GEx » Sat Jul 25, 2026 10:20 pm wrote:Gomez injured 7 minutes into pre season. We all love Joe, but we can't rely on him next season. Hopefully one of the new lads we signed last season can step up.

He’s into the final year of his contract and I think it’s right he is allowed to see it out with us.

He’s given his best years as a footballer to this club and played a big part in our success.

I do hope he moves to another country next year, where the pace and physicality of the game is less intense. His body just isn’t cut out for the premier league anymore.

The Gomez situation just highlights how light we are at the back, Virgil is 35, Joe is made of glass, Leoni is still months away and even when he does return who hits the ground running when returning from an ACL, as for Jacquet he turned 21 a few days ago and has never played a single premier league game in his life.
I floated the idea of bringing John Stones in the other day, tbh i think we need Stones plus someone else, i think a club the size of ours should have at least one CB somewhere near the 25 - 30 age bracket.
We shipped a hell of a lot of goals last year with a defence which was a lot stronger than the one we are heading into this season with.

Stones is also made of glass, there's no point in having him. I'd bring in Quansah with that buy-back clause, not a huge fan of him but I don't see any other decent option either, and we desperstely need a defender.

As I said before, Quansah for Gomez (if the club allow him to see out his contract as a thank you for his service I’d be ok with it) and then we need a 25 year old top draw defender. It’s not wise to go fro a 35 to a 23 year old defender, there needs to be at least one defender in his prime. We need a replacement for Konate, a player ready to play every match.

We are gonna need Bezos to come in and give an open cheque book with the amount of players we are letting walk for free. I like Joe and think the money he has earned is gratitude enough.

damjan193 » Sun Jul 26, 2026 7:30 pm wrote:Stones is also made of glass, there's no point in having him. I'd bring in Quansah with that buy-back clause, not a huge fan of him but I don't see any other decent option either, and we desperstely need a defender.

Have to be honest i'm not sold on Quansah, in Jurgens last season we looked like we were cruising to the quadruple, we'd just beaten Chelsea in the League Cup final with literally a team of kids and a couple of weeks later we were 2-0 up at Old Trafford in the FA Cup and giving United an absolute footballing lesson, suddenly Quansah under no pressure at all and with lots of options available inexplicably passes it straight Fernadez who shoots from the halfway line and scores, the whole momentum of the game and indeed our season changes with that one  pass, United end up beating us with the last kick of the game in devastating fashion and our confidence never recovers.
Even in the World Cup, Tuchel puts his trust in him in a massive quarter final and he repays him with an over the top of the ball challenge which would have been a straight red back in the days when Franny Lee and Norman Hunter were edging out Ali and Frazier for Ring Magazines fight of the year award.
The club need to stop worrying a bout a right winger and start worrying about our defence, we are heading for a disaster, if Virgil gets injured we could end up being relegated with the defence we've currently got [kids and crocks].

Two centre-backs caught the eye of Liverpool's scouting department at the U17 World Cup in Qatar last November.
Within weeks, the club spent a combined £3.5m on the pair: Senegal's Mor Talla Ndiaye and Austria's Ifeanyi Ndukwe.
Under Matt Newberry, Liverpool's director of global talent, this was evidence of future planning in full flow.
Yet surely no-one inside the club would have expected the teenage duo to be the centre-back pairing for most of Liverpool's opening pre-season fixture.
With Joe Gomez forced off by injury in the eighth minute against Sunderland, and neither Jeremy Jacquet or Giovanni Leoni fit to play still, Liverpool have a problem at the heart of their defence.
Looking at the long term is one thing, but they need reinforcements in the here and now.
Even before the injury, new head coach Andoni Iraola said his squad was "very thin" defensively.
Gomez was absent from Liverpool's training session in Chicago on Sunday and an update on the severity of his injury is expected this week.
He is Liverpool's longest-serving current player but has now missed 225 games because of injury, according to Transfermarkt, since signing from Charlton in 2015.
Virgil van Dijk is the club's only fit senior centre-back. The Liverpool captain is 35 and played every minute in the Premier League last season, but he is not the force that he used to be.
The Dutchman, like Gomez, is also into the last year of his contract at Anfield. There is a possibility both players will move on next summer.
One of the reasons why Liverpool allowed Ibrahima Konate to leave on a free transfer and join Real Madrid was because they felt Jacquet, 21, and Leoni, 19, whose transfers weighed in at £60m and £26m respectively, were the best young centre-backs in France and Italy.
Perhaps they will prove inspired signings, with Jacquet in line to make his debut against Leeds on Sunday.
Liverpool will give them every opportunity to fulfil their potential, but right now, just like Ndiaye and Ndukwe, both are far from the finished product.
"We need players. It's fairly obvious," former Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler told BBC Sport in New York, where the Reds take on Wrexham on Wednesday.
"I'm very sad for Joe Gomez, who has been so unfortunate with injuries. This could have been a real chance to cement his place and for him to show that we don't need another centre-half.
"We've spent money on Jacquet and Leoni and the guidance that Joe and Virgil can give from their experience to the young lads is telling.
"We won't see the best version of the young lads yet, but you do need that experience in the squad. And yes, the manager's been on record saying that we need players and I would not be surprised if another centre-half is in that conversation."
Is 'special talent' Jacquet the future of Liverpool's defence?
Published
2 February
'Getting squad right keeps players on toes'
From the outside, Liverpool's failure to seal a move for Marc Guehi last summer looks even more interesting now.
They have a buyback clause with Jarell Quansah, who left for Bayer Leverkusen for £35m last July, but there are no current plans for Quansah to return.
Sources stress that if Liverpool bring in Bradley Barcola, who Paris St-Germain value in excess of £100m, then there will be limitations to what more they can do in the market.
Deals for Jacquet and Victor Munoz have cost a combined £94.5m.
Without any major outgoings from Iraola's squad, there is an understanding that this summer will not be like last summer when a club record £450m was spent.
Fowler, who scored 183 times for the Reds, said: "When you look at Liverpool across the last decade, one of the problems that we've had is that the first 11 is more than capable but the argument that people have is the squad depth.
"I'm a big believer in getting the squad right because it gives everyone a lift and keeps people on their toes, knowing that if you're not performing, someone else could do the job.
"Go back to the days of Phil Neal and he'll tell you stories about how players would never want to get injured because they knew that if someone else came, they wouldn't get their place back.
"You need that mentality and I think that has a real knock-on effect on standards."
In six months from last summer through to January 2026, Liverpool agreed deals for five centre-backs who were aged 20 or under at the time - Leoni, Ndiaye, Ndukwe, Noah Adekoya and Jacquet.
It is worth noting that Ndukwe, who was impressive against Sunderland, must go out on loan this year as he does not yet meet the criteria for a UK work permit.
The long-term potential of centre-backs is not a concern at Anfield.
But experience is in short supply - a glaring gap in this Liverpool squad and one that needs to be addressed.

Federico Chiesa: I tried my best with Slot. Iraola wants me as striker

The Times

Liverpool winger, who started only two Premier League under Arne Slot, thinks ‘maybe there have been too many fresh starts’ but is keen to impress new head coach. Federico Chiesa hopes the arrival of Andoni Iraola heralds the start of a new chapter for him at Liverpool.

The 28-year-old Italy winger started only one Premier League game in each of the past two seasons under the former head coach Arne Slot. The £10million arrival from Juventus was surely hoping for more.

But Chiesa featured — and scored — in Iraola’s first game in charge, Saturday’s 4-2 pre-season friendly win over Sunderland in Nashville. The forward remains optimistic of being able to salvage his Anfield career, even if he is yet to talk to Iraola about his long-term prospects. The Basque coach has told Chiesa that he sees him as a forward, rather than a winger, which may indicate there is a place for the Italian in the squad this season.

“The only conversations I had were about pressing and tactics,” Chiesa said. “So I don’t know, it is difficult to say. It is always a fresh start at the beginning of the year. Maybe there have been too many fresh starts.

“But I don’t care, I am trying to do my best for this new manager. Last season under Arne Slot, I was trying to do my best.

“Right now, at the moment, I am happy here at Liverpool. I love the club, I love the fans, I love everything. I am doing the best I can to have a chance here. And then we will see. At the minute, the only thing I am thinking about is Liverpool.”

Chiesa’s frustrations last season, with Slot clearly unconvinced by his abilities, were compounded by the team’s problems, which ultimately cost the Dutchman his job. The early indications, though, are that Iraola fancies Chiesa as an option up front. Hugo Ekitike will not return from an achilles injury for at least five months, while Alexander Isak, who broke his leg last season, will need to be rested at times to manage his workload.

“Last year I felt ready for a bigger role, then it depended on the coach, whether he wanted me to play or not,” Chiesa said.

“Of course I wanted to play more but it is what it is. The gaffer decided to do so, he had his game plans, he took his decisions, I have nothing to say about that. It is football. This year, let us say it is a new chapter. There is a new manager and I have to focus on that.

“Pre-season is always hard, no? We didn’t just start, we have been training two weeks now with a new coach. We have seen what he wants. He wants high intensity, one versus one all over the pitch, that’s what we wanted to show today. Of course it is hard, it is pre-season.”

Liverpool were at risk of missing out on the Champions League this season, with Slot eventually ensuring they qualified. However, Chiesa insists finishing fifth was nothing to celebrate for a team that won the title 12 months earlier.

“At Liverpool, no,” he said. “Liverpool deserves more. Two years ago, we were Premier League champions. Last year, we almost went out of the Champions League spots.

“We were battling for fifth, which was enough at the time but as we know usually only four go in. We were lucky. It was a tough season last year and this season we need to do better, in the Champions League as well. We went out to PSG, we want to go further in the competition and then we want to even better in the Premier League as well.”

Chiesa has the added incentive of trying to force his way back into the Italian national team after deciding, with then manager Gennaro Gattuso, not to play in World Cup qualifiers in March.

Having won the 2020 European Championship with his country, being named in the team of the tournament in the process, he is keen to impress whoever Gattuso’s successor is.

“I spoke to the manager a few times, Gattuso, and I was not ready physically at the time,” Chiesa said. “When I got back in March, unfortunately I got injured. But I am looking forward to playing for the national team. I have won with the national team, it is always nice to play and win for your national team.”
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Well I guess we'll save £145 million....