Andoni Iraola provides positive Liverpool injury update | OneFootball

Andoni Iraola Sets Jeremy Jacquet Return Date as Liverpool Centre-Back Problems Grow

Liverpool beat Sunderland 4-2 in Nashville, but the scoreline only told part of the story. The bigger issue was at centre-back, where Andoni Iraola saw his options shrink again before and during the match.

Jeremy Jacquet was ruled out shortly before kick-off with what was described as a minor problem. Then Joe Gomez went off injured in the opening minutes. For a squad already light in central defence, that is the kind of sequence that turns a pre-season run-out into something far more awkward.

With Virgil van Dijk not travelling and Giovanni Leoni still recovering from an ACL rupture, Liverpool ended up relying on a youthful pairing of Mor Talla Ndiaye and Ifeanyi Ndukwe for most of the evening. In pre-season, you can live with that for a game. Over a season, you cannot build sensibly around it.

Jacquet return timeline emerges

Iraola gave the clearest indication yet on when Jacquet should be back. He said, “Probably the worst news has been straight away the injury of Joe. We were happy because we were going through training without losing any players, and unluckily for us we’ve lost Joe straight away.

“With Jeremy, we decided to take it easy with him. He’s had a lot of months without playing. He’s been training very well, but we’re going to take it easy with him. He will play probably in the last game of this US tour. He will have time to have minutes, but we were kind of happy, but we’ve lost one now.”

Photo: IMAGO

That points to a simple conclusion. Jacquet is unlikely to feature against Wrexham, and Liverpool are instead targeting the final game of the US tour for his return. It is a cautious call, and probably the correct one given his lay-off.

Joe Gomez injury adds fresh concern

The more immediate worry is Gomez. Iraola did not go into detail on the severity of the problem, which usually means there is not yet a definitive read. In pre-season, managers tend to avoid gambling on experienced players when the turnaround between fixtures is tight, so Liverpool may well take a conservative approach here too.

That could mean Ndiaye and Ndukwe are asked to step in again. There is value in exposing academy defenders to senior minutes, but there is also a point where circumstance starts making decisions for you. Liverpool are getting close to that point in this area of the pitch.

Liverpool transfer window pressure intensifies

Iraola has already made it clear that he wants more depth. These latest issues only sharpen that message. Centre-back is not a luxury position in this squad, it is a practical problem that needs solving before the serious football starts.

One or two missing defenders in July can be managed. A repeated shortage by August becomes poor planning. Liverpool have already seen what happens when central defensive depth runs thin and midfielders start filling holes at the back. There is no need to revisit that mess if the transfer window still gives them time to act.

For now, Jacquet looks close. Gomez does not. And Liverpool’s centre-back depth looks exactly what it is, one injury away from becoming a real problem.