Liverpool Faces Defensive Crisis Ahead of New Season
Andoni Iraola hasn’t kicked a ball in the new season yet, and already Liverpool’s familiar nightmare is back.
Two weeks out from the opening game of the 2026/27 campaign, the squad looks short, unbalanced and one injury away from chaos in the most unforgiving area of the pitch. The Salah-sized hole on the right wing is worrying enough. The state of the center-back department is far more alarming.
Araujo arrives into a storm
Liverpool’s move for Ronald Araujo should have been a statement. Instead, it feels like a fire blanket thrown over a blaze that had been left to burn all summer.
Before news of the Uruguayan’s impending arrival, Iraola was staring at the prospect of beginning a Premier League season with just one fit senior center-back. One.
Joe Gomez is already ruled out. Giovanni Leoni is still working his way back from an ACL injury and hasn’t rejoined full training. Jeremy Jacquet, despite reporting early for preseason, hasn’t played a single minute so far.
The Frenchman’s absence against Monaco has only deepened the doubt. If he misses that game at Anfield, the best Liverpool can realistically hope for is 45 minutes against Como next weekend. Forty-five minutes of friendly football as preparation for a first taste of the Premier League at St James’ Park. It’s nowhere near enough.
So Iraola is left with the obvious conclusion: protect Virgil van Dijk and Araujo at all costs, and pray they learn each other’s game in fast-forward.
Van Dijk, the old general. Araujo, the new recruit dropped straight into the firing line. They will have to look like a partnership long before they truly are one.
A crisis of Liverpool’s own making
Liverpool know all about injury crises at the back. This one feels different. This one feels avoidable.
Anyone glancing at the squad at the start of the summer could see the back four needed numbers and variety. Instead, the club have lurched toward a late deal that has all the hallmarks of a stop-gap rather than the centerpiece of a carefully drawn defensive plan.
Even with Araujo on board, the picture is stark. One more injury and Iraola is forced into improvisation in an area where improvisation usually gets punished.
That is where the new man in the dugout may have to borrow from the old.
Slot’s blueprint in an emergency
Arne Slot lived this reality last season. When Leoni suffered his ACL injury in September, Liverpool were left with just three center-backs for the rest of the campaign. It was a tightrope walk from autumn to May.
Slot never looked rattled. He knew the risks, but he also knew his escape routes.
"Ryan (Gravenberch) and Wata (Endo) can play there," he said early in the season, cutting straight through the concern. "So it is not like all of a sudden we don't have options in that position anymore."
Endo’s versatility is no secret. Across his three years at Anfield, he has dropped into the back line when needed and done it with minimum fuss. The problem now is timing. He has only just returned to training after his own injury, and asking him to anchor a makeshift defense away at Newcastle would be a huge demand.
If Van Dijk or Araujo suffer so much as a twinge, the next man up might well be Gravenberch.
The Dutch midfielder has flirted with the role before, but only in flashes. His cameo at center-back in the 6-0 win over Qarabag in January was more experiment than examination. You cannot judge a defender on a night when the opposition barely lays a glove.
Yet this is where Liverpool are. One more setback, and a midfielder is thrown into the heart of the defense on the opening weekend.
Walking into St James’ Park on a tightrope
It would not be a good look for a club of Liverpool’s stature to line up at St James’ Park with Gravenberch or Endo starting at center-back. It would scream short-termism. It would underline what the summer window has not yet fixed.
And yet, that scenario sits just one awkward landing or one pulled muscle away.
So Iraola’s early days at Anfield are already defined by risk management. Keep Van Dijk wrapped up. Ease Araujo in without exposing him. Hope Jacquet can accelerate his rhythm. Watch Leoni’s recovery inch forward.
Liverpool wanted this summer to be about evolution in attack and a new identity in midfield. Instead, as another season looms, everything again rests on whether the defense can simply hold together.
