It could be some time until we see an Andoni Iraola Liverpool team firing on all cylinders. Ongoing injury issues, late returns following the World Cup and unfinished efforts to strengthen this summer preclude full strength, and will do for a while.
But it’s not all doom and gloom. Liverpool are standing before an exciting new chapter, and Iraola’s three years of experience in the Premier League with Bournemouth suggest there is plenty to look forward to. Moreover, the right changes before the end of the transfer window could re-establish the Reds as title challengers.
Right now, we don’t have a clear picture. Pre-season is underway, but over in America, Liverpool’s squad is populated with youth players and those on the side.
However, Dominik Szoboszlai is spurring his teammates on, thriving in recent weeks and laying down the gauntlet to anyone who challenges him for the vacant vice-captaincy.
How Szoboszlai became Liverpool’s leader
Toward the end of the 2023/24 campaign, Szoboszlai’s first in Liverpool, and Jurgen Klopp’s last, he was cast to the sidelines, given only one start across six Premier League matches to close out the term.
The £60m signing from RB Leipzig arrived a big talent, physical and robust and skilled as an attacking midfielder, but he left something to be desired over his first two years on Merseyside – then blooming into a superstar as Arne Slot’s side sank in 2025/26.
But while Slot’s tottering tenure threatened to fall throughout the campaign, Szoboszlai proved the steadying force needed to carry the side through to the end. Without him, Liverpool would not have scored a last-minute ticket onto the Champions League train.
Szoboszlai scored 13 goals and provided 12 assists across all competitions last year, but that hardly tells the full story. Slot said he is “maybe the best in the world at pressing“, the perfect all-action midfielder.
His efforts throughout pre-season thus far have indeed suggested that Iraola would be wise to appoint him as Virgil van Dijk’s deputy, a reward for his talismanic emergence.
There’s no question that Szoboszlai is emerging as a leading man in the Premier League, one of Liverpool’s finest signings in years. It would take a lot to trump him, but FSG believe they could do just that in the coming weeks.
Liverpool in talks to seal best signing since Szoboszlai
Liverpool need a pass-perfect midfielder to complement Szoboszlai in the engine room this season, but they also need a forward. Most of Liverpool’s transfer-focused noise this summer has fallen on the need for a right winger, with Mohamed Salah no longer on the books.
He might not quite fit that bill, but there can be few complaints over FSG’s concerted effort to sign Paris Saint-Germain attacker Bradley Barcola, who, according to Fabrizio Romano, remains intent on joining the Anfield side this summer after rejecting a contract extension with the back-to-back Champions League holders.
Liverpool, Paris Saint-Germain, agents of the player, are in regular contact. The real point is going to be about the transfer fee, because in terms of personal terms, there is going to be no problem. Bradley Barcola is super keen on Liverpool.
Arsenal have also been in the race for the 23-year-old this summer, but Liverpool have done their due diligence and are now forging ahead, looking to agree a fee with PSG and close the deal.
Liverpool will not entertain their £145m price tag, though they will likely have to cross the nine-digit border.
It’s interesting to consider Barcola’s potential through the lens of his deficiencies. This is not a complete, fully-fledged forward. But he is still regarded as an elite talent, someone who is already “one of the best left wingers in the world“, according to Como scout Ben Mattinson.
|
PSG Top Scorers (24/25 – 25/26) |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Player |
Apps |
Goals |
|
Ousmane Dembele |
93 |
55 |
|
Bradley Barcola |
113 |
34 |
|
Goncalo Ramos |
91 |
31 |
|
Desire Doue |
102 |
29 |
|
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia |
80 |
27 |
He has scored 34 goals across the past two years with PSG, and given he’s picked up a few bad habits in front of goal that need ironing out, you can only say that the future is bright for this one.
At Liverpool, he would be allowed to develop into a focal point. Barcola can play across the frontline, a trait Iraola values highly, and his pace and ferocious and direct running style will add a dimension that simply wasn’t there for Liverpool last year, Salah and Cody Gakpo both toiling with little success.
With that in mind, Barcola really could transform this Liverpool side. He could lift them back into the ascendancy and ease the talismanic burden that has been placed on Szoboszlai’s shoulders over the past 12 months.
Szoboszlai is one of the best in the business, but his pinpoint free-kicks bailed Liverpool out of a number of holes last year. They had to, with the forwards unable to take centre-stage and deliver.
The addition of Barcola might just change all that – especially when considering the potential connection he could form with the likes of Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz, both big-money men with points to prove.
Barcola doesn’t solve all of Liverpool’s problems this summer, but successfully weaving the Les Bleus star into Iraola’s system is hardly going to be a negative.
If he kicks on, he could become one of the Premier League’s leading stars, and given the weight of succeeding someone like Salah, he would undoubtedly be Liverpool’s best signing in a while.