Liverpool 2026/27: Iraola’s Squad Set for a Major Overhaul
Andoni Iraola has not been in the Liverpool job long, but the outlines of his first real rebuild are already visible. Look closely at team sheets, contract dates and loan deals, and the 2026/27 squad starts to take shape. It looks younger, leaner, and far less sentimental.
And for a few big names, it looks like the end.
Endo on the way out
The first sign came quietly. Wataru Endo sat on the bench throughout Liverpool’s Carabao Cup win over Tottenham Hotspur, unused, watching teenagers take his place in midfield. He has yet to play a single minute under Iraola and did not even make the Champions League squad.
At 33, out of contract next summer and behind Trey Nyoni, James McConnell, Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch in the queue, the picture is brutal.
Iraola has tried to keep the door ajar.
“Wata lost quite a lot of the pre-season,” he explained. “He is still not at his best but he is training very well. The problem is in front of him in his position I have a lot of players. He is competing against a lot of players. We are giving minutes to Trey, Ryan, Alexis and Dom, players that I am selecting right now. But Wata is definitely a player that I like and for sure he will have his moments.”
The reality on the pitch tells a different story. Nyoni and McConnell started ahead of him against Spurs, with Mac Allister alongside them. Szoboszlai and Gravenberch came on before Endo was even considered.
Just as with Lewis Koumas seemingly jumping ahead of Federico Chiesa in the attacking pecking order, Iraola is clearly tilting towards youth. For Endo, whose game-time was already limited under Arne Slot, the direction of travel is obvious.
He turns 34 in February. He is currently due to leave on a free at the end of the season, though reports this week suggested Liverpool could try to cash in during January and bank one last fee. Whether it is winter or summer, everything points to a clean break.
Big contracts running down
Endo is not alone. As it stands, Virgil van Dijk, Alisson Becker, Joe Gomez and Kostas Tsimikas are all out of contract next summer. Back-up goalkeeper Harvey Davies is also listed as expiring then.
That group could yet be offered new deals, of course, but on paper Liverpool are staring at the prospect of losing their captain, their first-choice goalkeeper, a senior homegrown defender and their long-serving back-up left-back in the same window.
Ronald Araujo’s situation is different. His season-long loan from Barcelona will also end, but Liverpool hold a £47m purchase option on the Uruguay international. If they trigger it, he becomes a pillar of the new era. If not, another slot opens up.
Either way, the spine of this team is heading for a major reshuffle.
The class of 2027 already signed
Liverpool have not waited for the dust to settle before moving. Their first three deals for 2027 are already in place, and all three sit firmly in the “next wave” bracket.
Djylian N’Guessan will officially become a Liverpool player in January after the club agreed a €5m fee with Saint-Etienne. The 18-year-old forward will, however, finish the season on loan at Stade Brest in Ligue 1 before actually linking up with Iraola’s squad.
Lucca Brughmans is another one for the future, but at a far higher price point. Liverpool have agreed a £30m deal with KRC Genk for the Belgian goalkeeper. He is due to stay in Belgium for the rest of the campaign, though the club do have an option to bring him to Anfield in January if they want to accelerate his integration.
Samuel Martinez completes the early business. The Colombian playmaker will join from Atletico Nacional in a £750,000 deal once he turns 18 next year.
There is also a familiar name on the horizon. Liverpool hold a £55m option to re-sign Jarell Quansah from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer of 2027. The ECHO understands the England centre-half has already agreed personal terms on an Anfield contract if the Reds choose to exercise that clause. The choice will be Liverpool’s, not the player’s.
Loanees coming back into the fold
While the transfer market will draw the headlines, the squad for 2026/27 will also be shaped heavily by returning loanees.
Harvey Elliott is the most high-profile. His season-long loan at Valencia ends next summer, and with his contract running until 2028, he is firmly in Liverpool’s long-term plans.
Ifeanyi Ndukwe is another intriguing case. Now eligible for a work permit after making his debut for Levante, he could be recalled in January or finish the season in La Liga before coming back to Merseyside.
Armin Pecsi and Kieran Morrison are due to return from TSV Hartberg and Sheffield Wednesday respectively. Calvin Ramsay’s story is different: his loan at St Mirren runs alongside the final year of his Liverpool deal, and he is scheduled to leave as a free agent when that ends.
Calum Scanlon and Keyrol Figueroa are out on season-long loans at Cardiff City and Port Vale. Amara Nallo, Kornel Misciur and Kyle Kelly are away at HJK, Leek Town and Forest Green Rovers until the new year.
Goalkeeper Fabian Mrozek is currently with FC Cincinnati, and the MLS club have an option to sign him permanently. If they take it, one more place opens up in the goalkeeping department.
Kids no longer kids
There is another quiet shift coming. Any player born before January 1, 2006 must be registered in Liverpool’s Premier League and European squads next season if Iraola wants to use them. No more hiding in the Under-21s list.
Jeremy Jacquet, Lewis Koumas, Pecsi and Michael Laffey will all move out of Under-21s status. The same goes for Scanlon and Kelly. From 2026/27, they either count as senior players or they move on.
That change feeds directly into the club’s homegrown and non-homegrown quotas.
Homegrown core taking shape
On the homegrown side, Liverpool are relatively well stocked for 2026/27.
Conor Bradley, Elliott, James McConnell, Koumas, Vitezslav Jaros, Freddie Woodman and Jeremie Frimpong are all contracted for next season and would count towards the homegrown quota. Bradley, Elliott, McConnell, Koumas and Jaros qualify as club-trained for European competition, while Woodman and Frimpong are academy-trained.
Luke Chambers, Scanlon, Kaide Gordon, Isaac Mabaya, Owen Beck, Laffey and Kelly would also need to be registered if they remain on the books.
Gomez and Davies, as it stands, would leave as free agents. Transfermarkt also lists Chambers and Gordon as out of contract, which would thin that group further if no extensions are agreed.
Non-homegrown squeeze
The non-homegrown slots are where things get tight. Liverpool currently occupy all 17 non-homegrown places for 2026/27.
Van Dijk, Alisson, Endo and Tsimikas all coming to the end of their deals would free up four spaces if they depart. Araujo returning to Barcelona would create another if Liverpool decide not to buy him.
Then there are the players whose futures are less clear-cut. Chiesa’s contract runs until 2028, but he has never been more than a fringe option at Anfield. A departure would surprise nobody.
Questions also hang over Mac Allister. The Argentina international recently revealed the club had told him they were not currently in a position to offer him a new deal, a line that will only fuel talk about his long-term future.
Cody Gakpo nearly left in the summer after interest from Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City. Those links will not disappear if his role stays limited. Giorgi Mamardashvili has also been mentioned as a possible outgoing.
Ndukwe and Brughmans complicate the picture slightly. They would still count as Under-21s domestically and would not need to be registered in the Premier League squad. For European competition, though, neither is eligible for List B, so Liverpool would have to find room for them in the main non-homegrown list if Iraola wants them available.
Strip the scenario back and keep it conservative. Assume only the out-of-contract players leave and Liverpool sign Araujo permanently. In that case, they would have 15 senior non-homegrown players, with Jacquet and Pecsi graduating out of Under-21s status.
That would leave two free non-homegrown berths in the European squad. Ndukwe and Brughmans could fill them. On paper, at least, it fits.
But that is the bare minimum version of events. The reality is likely to be far busier.
How the 2026/27 squad could look
Take all of that together and a provisional picture emerges of Liverpool’s 2026/27 group, based on current contracts and the assumption that Araujo is signed permanently and the out-of-contract group moves on.
Goalkeepers: Giorgi Mamardashvili, Freddie Woodman (homegrown), Vitezslav Jaros (homegrown), Armin Pecsi, Lucca Brughmans (Under-21)*.
Defenders: Jeremy Jacquet, Milos Kerkez, Conor Bradley (homegrown), Leoni (Under-21), Jeremie Frimpong (homegrown), Ronald Araujo, Calum Scanlon (homegrown), Owen Beck (homegrown), Ifeanyi Ndukwe (Under-21)*.
Midfielders: Florian Wirtz, Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister, Harvey Elliott (homegrown), Ryan Gravenberch, Trey Nyoni (Under-21), James McConnell (homegrown).
That is not a final blueprint. It is a snapshot of how the numbers line up today.
What it does show, though, is the direction of travel. Senior legends edging towards the exit, a cluster of high-potential teenagers already signed, and a growing homegrown core being pushed into real responsibility.
By the time the 2026/27 season kicks off, the Liverpool squad Iraola sends out may share a badge and a stadium with the current one. Everything else could feel very different.
