Anfield's Medical Room is Overflowing Before Preseason Even Begins
Liverpool's central defensive options are down to bare bones ahead of their Premier League opener at Newcastle. The club confirmed on Wednesday the arrival of French centre-back Jeremy Jacquet from Rennes for a fee of £55 million. Yet the arrival of a rookie defender does little to mask the massive hole in the Reds' backline.
Iraola is facing a severe shortage of fit, experienced central defenders ahead of a brutal Premier League opener on August 23. With Ibrahima Konate departing for Real Madrid on a free transfer, the club has only four senior centre-backs on its books. Two of those options are currently recovering from major injuries, leaving the manager with almost no room for error.
The situation at the back is already critical. As Sky Sports analyzed, the transition away from last season's squad has left the defence incredibly thin. Former Bournemouth assistants Tommy Elphick and Shaun Cooper have joined Iraola's staff, but their first task is managing a medical room that looks more like a battlefield than a elite sports facility.
The Medical Files: Leoni and Jacquet Under the Microscope
The most worrying case in the squad is Geovanni Leoni. The teenage defender tore his ACL on his Liverpool debut in September 2025 and is still going through a grueling rehabilitation process. Sources close to the club indicate that Leoni is still weeks away from returning to full training. A realistic estimate for his return to competitive action is late October, meaning he will miss the entire preseason and at least the first two months of the campaign.
Jacquet is also carrying significant medical baggage despite his huge price tag. The 20-year-old French defender suffered a serious shoulder injury earlier this year while on loan. French football expert Julien Laurens praised the signing, stating:
"He reminds me of when William Saliba burst onto the scene in France with Saint-Etienne, or Wesley Fofana."
But potential does not heal ligaments, and throwing a recovering youngster straight into the physical gauntlet of the Premier League is a massive gamble. Jacquet's shoulder stability will be tested immediately in preseason friendlies. If he suffers a relapse, Iraola will be left with only two active central defenders.
The Joe Gomez Conundrum and the Boeing 747
That leaves the injury-prone Joe Gomez as the only experienced partner for captain Virgil van Dijk. Gomez has been a loyal servant to the club for more than a decade, but his medical record is a horror show. He has only once featured in more than 30 league games in a single season since arriving at Anfield. Relying on Gomez to carry a heavy load is a strategy that has repeatedly failed in past seasons.
Meanwhile, Van Dijk is facing his own fitness and form questions after a difficult summer. The Dutch captain was heavily criticized during the World Cup, with Netherlands icon Rafael van der Vaart offering a brutal assessment of his mobility. Van der Vaart told reporters:
"I have to be honest: I was quite shocked by Van Dijk."
The former midfielder compared Van Dijk's turning circle to a Boeing 747 aeroplane during the team's match against Japan. The physical toll of back-to-back heavy seasons is starting to show on the 34-year-old, and the club has no safety net if his body breaks down. In addition, transfer rumours continue to swirl around the skipper, although Football365 reported that there are currently no talks between his representatives and AC Milan.
Historical Context: The Ghost of the 2020 Defensive Collapse
Liverpool fans have seen this movie before, and it ended in disaster. During the 2020-21 campaign, the club suffered a catastrophic run of defensive injuries that derailed their title defence. Van Dijk, Gomez, and Joel Matip all suffered season-ending injuries before January. The club was forced to play midfielders Jordan Henderson and Fabinho out of position at centre-back, leading to a historic six-game losing streak at Anfield.
The current board, led by sporting director Richard Hughes, appears to be making the exact same mistake. They have allowed Ibrahima Konate to leave without securing a proven, durable replacement. Instead, they are putting their faith in a 20-year-old coming off a shoulder injury and a teenager who has not played a game since tearing his ACL ten months ago. It is a high-risk policy that could destroy Iraola's first season before it even gets underway.
The physical demands of Iraola's high-pressing system will only compound these issues. At Bournemouth, Iraola demanded intense physical outputs from his players, leading to a historic sixth-place finish last term. But that system requires elite physical condition, and Liverpool's current defensive unit is far from healthy. The physical workload during preseason will be a major test of whether these players can survive the rigors of the upcoming campaign.
Strategic Fallout: Midfield Overhauls and the Milan Domino Effect
The defensive issues are already impacting Liverpool's transfer strategy in other areas. Iraola has reportedly requested the signing of Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Malik Tillman for a fee of €50 million. As Football365 reported, Iraola believes the American midfielder has the game-changing quality needed to protect a fragile backline. If the club has to spend heavily on another defender, the move for Tillman could be put on hold.
This defensive fragility has a ripple effect across European football. In Italy, AC Milan manager Ruben Amorim is looking to overhaul his own squad. According to reports from Sempre Milan, Amorim has decided that midfielder Youssouf Fofana is not central to his plans. Milan are ready to sell the Frenchman for a reasonable fee as they look to rebuild their own defensive block.
If Liverpool's defensive crisis worsens, they could be forced to enter the market for a player like Fofana to add physical presence in front of their back four. The club has already lost experienced leaders like Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson, leaving a massive void in both terms of quality and leadership. The physical state of the squad is rapidly becoming the defining issue of Liverpool's summer transition.
The timeline for resolving these injury issues is tight. The Reds travel to Newcastle on August 23, giving Iraola just over seven weeks to get his defenders up to speed. If Leoni and Jacquet fail to prove their fitness, the club will be forced into a panic buy in the final days of the transfer window. For a club that prides itself on analytical, long-term planning, this current defensive gamble is a surprising and dangerous departure from their usual model.
