Andoni Iraola Highlights Two Homegrown Talents After Liverpool’s Leeds Defeat
Liverpool’s 4-2 defeat to Leeds United in Sunday’s pre-season friendly will sting on the scoreboard, but inside the new regime at Anfield, something more important is taking shape. Andoni Iraola, only weeks into the job, has quickly locked onto two players who barely had a look-in under the previous manager: James McConnell and Lewis Koumas.
They are not new names to Liverpool’s academy staff. They are, however, starting to feel like new signings to the first-team picture.
From loan afterthoughts to serious contenders
McConnell, 21, has already tasted senior football in flashes. Thirteen appearances for Liverpool tell part of the story; a loan move to Ajax in the summer of 2025 tells the rest. Arne Slot did not see him as ready to shoulder the demands of a full Premier League season and sent him to the Eredivisie to grow up in a hurry.
Koumas, a year younger, has had an even more fragmented route. The Wales international can operate wide or through the middle, but has only one Liverpool first-team outing to his name. Stoke City, Birmingham City and Hull City have all borrowed him, each spell offering minutes but not a clear pathway back to Anfield. Slot never used him once in competitive action and turned to McConnell only four times.
That context makes the early days of Iraola’s tenure all the more striking. According to journalist Alan Nixon, the Spaniard has been “blown away” by the pair and is seriously considering folding them into his first-team squad for the coming season, despite interest from clubs keen to take them on loan again.
Nixon reports that Iraola has “taken a shine” to McConnell and Koumas, noting that while they have previously been “farmed out for experience with varying degrees of success”, the new manager sees something different. The message is clear: their time away from Anfield has changed them, and inside the training ground they are now commanding “serious respect”.
For two players who, not long ago, looked destined for another round of temporary moves, the shift is significant. Under Slot, the door was barely ajar. Under Iraola, it suddenly looks open.
Lessons in defeat
The Leeds game underlined why Iraola’s judgment on his squad – and the fringes of it – matters so much right now.
Liverpool shipped four goals in a 4-2 loss that exposed both promise and problems. When asked what he had taken from the contest, Iraola did not hide from the value of a setback.
“I think we learn a lot of things,” he said. “Obviously it’s not the result you want but I think [it was] probably the most useful friendly we played – in a positive way in the first half and in a negative way in the second half.
“I think we’ve learned a lot from today and I think we can take good conclusions and solve some things.”
The first half offered control, structure, and signs of how Iraola wants Liverpool to play. The second half, by his own admission, showed the fragility that still lurks beneath the surface. For a coach who thrives on intensity and organisation, that contrast will have cut deep.
Yet this is exactly the kind of game that shapes decisions about squad depth. About who can be trusted when the tempo rises. About which young players can live in the chaos rather than be swallowed by it.
Big names ease in, youngsters step up
There was a natural focus on the marquee names making their first pre-season appearances. Florian Wirtz, Alexander Isak and Ryan Gravenberch all featured for the first time this summer, each getting 45 minutes.
“I think they did really good,” Iraola said. “They played their first 45 minutes.
“Obviously Florian and Alex, because they were playing in the first half, they had an easier game or a better game.
“Ryan, it was costly for him.”
The rhythm of the match shifted after the break, and Gravenberch felt the brunt of it. Jeremie Frimpong had to come off as well, though Iraola moved quickly to ease any alarm.
“Jeremie asked for the sub [but] I don’t think it’s an injury,” he explained. “It was just some overload and I hope he’s not injured in that way. I don’t think we’ve lost anyone.”
So the headline recruits are bedding in, fitness is building, and no major injuries have emerged from a bruising afternoon. Yet the more intriguing story sits just beneath that polished surface.
While Wirtz and Isak draw the cameras, Iraola’s gaze has clearly drifted to the academy graduates returning from the loan carousel. McConnell, a composed midfielder with a growing presence, and Koumas, a versatile attacker hungry for a real crack at Anfield, have forced their way into the conversation through what they have shown since coming back.
The pressure of pre-season is different from the Premier League, but managers rarely hand out this kind of internal “respect” lightly. Iraola has seen enough to consider ripping up the old script that had both men pencilled in for more time away.
The defeat to Leeds exposed Liverpool’s flaws. It also sharpened the picture of who might help fix them. If Iraola follows his instincts, McConnell and Koumas will not be watching that process from another stadium this time – they will be right in the middle of it.
