Andoni Iraola Facing Major Injury Crisis Just One Game Into Liverpool Career

Victory over Sunderland in preseason has come at a cost for Liverpool.

Andoni Iraola is already facing a real headache. | Andrew J. Clark/ISI Photos/Getty Images

Andoni Iraola’s Liverpool squad has already been stretched thin after Joe Gomez limped off injured just 10 minutes into the Reds’ preseason opener over Sunderland.

Gomez was the only natural senior center back in the squad for Saturday’s 4–2 win over the Black Cats, starting alongside 18-year-old Mor Talla Ndiaye, but lasted just 10 minutes before being forced off injured.

“Probably the worst news has been straight away the injury of Joe,” Iraola reflected after the game.

“We were happy because we were kind of going through all the training without losing any player. Unluckily for us, straight away we’ve lost Joe.”

Gomez had to be replaced by another 18-year-old, Ifeanyi Ndukwe, because there were no other alternatives for Iraola, who now faces the prospect of navigating the rest of the team’s preseason tour—and perhaps even the start of the new season—desperately short on defenders.

Virgil van Dijk has not traveled to the U.S. as he continues to rest after the World Cup, while Italian youngster Giovanni Leoni is still in the final stages of recovering from an ACL injury. Summer signing Jérémy Jacquet in with the rest of the squad this summer but was left out of the matchday squad on Saturday.

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Iraola Reveals Liverpool’s Plan for Jacquet

Jérémy Jacquet did not make the matchday squad. | Nikki Dyer/Liverpool FC/Getty Images

Liverpool paid around $80 million (£60 million) to seal Jacquet’s signature in early February but allowed him to finish the season with Rennes, where he managed just two more appearances before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury.

Having been training with the squad for weeks now, Jacquet’s omission from Saturday’s squad came as a surprise, and Iraola ultimately revealed the 21-year-old is still a little while away from being ready to return.

“With Jeremy, we decided to take it easy with him,” Iraola explained. “He has been a lot of months without playing with a shoulder injury. So, I think we are going to take it easy with him.

“He will play probably the last game of this U.S. tour and he will have time to have minutes. It’s true that we were kind of happy but we’ve lost one now.”

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Do Liverpool Need a New Center Back?

Joe Gomez limped off injured early on. | Ian Horrocks/Sunderland AFC/Getty Images

Iraola recently admitted his squad was “very thin” and highlighted concerns at both right back and center back as he inches closer to his first competitive game with Liverpool.

Liverpool do have four senior center backs on the books—Van Dijk, Jacquet, Gomez and Leoni—and while those numbers may look strong on paper, things are nowhere near as comfortable for Iraola and the Reds.

Leoni has not played for around 11 months now following a serious knee injury and has not yet returned to team training, meaning he cannot be relied upon as a genuine first-team option right now. Jacquet’s own absence has not been so lengthy but he is still clearly going to need time to rediscover his fitness and adjust to life at a new club.

Van Dijk and Gomez looked set to be the starting partnership when Liverpool travel to St James’ Park to face Newcastle United on August 23, but now the Englishman is back on the sidelines with an injury. Given his nightmare track record, no risks will be taken.

That leaves Van Dijk, who turned 35 earlier this summer and is not yet even training with the team as he recovers from the World Cup, as the only senior option, which explains why Iraola is keen to land a new defender.

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