Andoni Iraola's Liverpool Challenges: Jacquet, Jones, and Ngumoha

Andoni Iraola has barely had time to find his parking space at the AXA Training Centre, but his in-tray is already full. The new Liverpool head coach will only get his full squad together next week, before they fly to the United States on July 20, yet three issues stand out as early markers of how his Anfield reign might take shape.

They involve a £60m defender still feeling his way back from injury, a homegrown midfielder with a decision to make, and a teenage winger who might just change the balance of Liverpool’s attack.

1. Fast‑track Jeremy Jacquet

Jeremy Jacquet turns 21 on Monday. He also turns up at Liverpool off the back of shoulder surgery, a £60m transfer fee and the expectation that he will grow into Virgil van Dijk’s long-term partner.

That is a lot to carry into your first pre-season.

Liverpool’s hierarchy would not have signed him if they doubted his temperament, but Iraola’s job now is to turn raw potential into a functioning part of his defence before the Premier League starts. With Giovanni Leoni still recovering from the ACL injury that ended his season 10 months ago, the plan is simple: Jacquet and Joe Gomez will shoulder much of the centre-back load across the summer friendlies.

These games are officially about fitness. For Jacquet, they will be an audition.

His unveiling last week showed a young defender desperate to make an impression. The club see a huge future; Iraola must build a present. Liverpool need him to adapt quickly to a new league, new teammates and a new defensive structure, so that when the serious stuff begins he can slot in next to Van Dijk with minimal fuss.

There is a template. At Bournemouth, Iraola helped Dean Huijsen go from promising loanee to Spain international and then a £60m signing for Real Madrid. The Basque coach has already proved he can take a talented but unpolished centre-half and raise his ceiling in a hurry. That precedent will not be lost on anyone at Liverpool.

Jacquet will be the only new signing on the tour. That guarantees scrutiny. Every duel, every line he holds, every pass he attempts out from the back will be weighed and replayed, even with the caveat that the opposition is friendly and the intensity uneven. If Iraola wants to put his stamp on this Liverpool side early, shaping Jacquet into a credible Van Dijk partner is one of the clearest ways to do it.

2. Curtis Jones: stay, go, or start again?

Curtis Jones returns from his holiday in Mallorca next week with more than jet lag to shake off. His Liverpool future is hovering in a grey area that cannot be allowed to drag on deep into pre-season.

Inter have already tested the water twice. Their second offer, just under £22m, was knocked back. Liverpool, while reluctantly open to a sale, value the midfielder closer to £35m. That is not a small gap. It has led to a sense inside Anfield that the talks might simply stall rather than accelerate.

This is where Iraola steps in. A new manager often means a new role, a new conversation, a new reason to stay.

Jones, a boyhood Liverpool fan, would not choose to leave lightly. But the lack of consistent game time has encouraged clubs such as Inter and Aston Villa to circle, sensing an opportunity. If he feels his pathway is blocked again, the idea of a fresh start will only grow louder.

The timing gives him a window. Alexis Mac Allister is still at the World Cup. Ryan Gravenberch is on his post-season break. Pre-season minutes in midfield are there to be claimed, and Jones is well placed to take them if he arrives sharp and open to Iraola’s ideas.

For that to matter, though, clarity is essential. Iraola will need to hear, directly, whether Jones is prepared to reset at Liverpool or whether his mind is edging towards a move. Those internal talks could define the next stage of his career.

If Jones impresses on tour, the shirt is there for him when the Premier League kicks off, at least while Mac Allister eases his way back. A strong summer could push him from squad option to starter under a new regime. A flat one, or a hesitant one, might push him towards the exit.

For player and manager, the stakes of this pre-season are obvious.

3. Rio Ngumoha and the right‑wing question

Liverpool’s recruitment this summer has been framed by one big question: who eventually replaces Mohamed Salah on the right of the front three?

The names linked so far tell their own story. The club have triggered the £34.5m release clause in Victor Munoz’s Osasuna contract. They have told RB Leipzig they are willing to go to £86m for Yan Diomande. Interest in Bradley Barcola at Paris Saint-Germain remains alive. All three are versatile, all three are most comfortable off the left.

Paying huge fees for players and then asking them to learn a new flank is not a universally popular idea inside the club. So another option has started to gain traction: change the role of someone already on the books.

Rio Ngumoha is that someone.

Twelve months ago, he was an exciting academy talent. By late August, he was scoring his first Premier League goal in a wild 3-2 win at Newcastle United, just days before his 17th birthday. By the end of the season, he was not just part of Liverpool’s first team but starting games and earning England caps.

His rise has been steep enough to attract Bayern Munich’s attention. Liverpool’s response has been firm: they have no intention of letting him go and plan to reward his progress with a new contract once he turns 18 in late August.

The next question is positional. Ngumoha’s cameo for England in the United States last month came from the right, where he delivered a player-of-the-match display against New Zealand. That performance has fed into a wider debate at Liverpool: should he be developed as a modern inverted winger, cutting inside onto his stronger foot, or as a more traditional wide man who goes on the outside and whips balls into the box?

The second option is particularly tempting when you consider Alexander Isak. Liverpool invested £125m in the Sweden striker and still need to unlock him fully. A right-sided winger who stretches the pitch and supplies high-quality crosses could be a crucial part of that puzzle.

Ngumoha’s relative inexperience might actually work in Iraola’s favour here. Unlike an established star such as Barcola, he is still at the formative stage of his career, more open to being reshaped into a different type of wide forward. The club already admired Iraola’s work with young attackers at Bournemouth – Eli Junior Kroupi, Rayan, Antoine Semenyo – and that track record was a key factor in his appointment.

Now he has a 17-year-old with electric talent and a blank tactical canvas.

Where Ngumoha lines up this summer will be telling. If Iraola leans into the right-wing experiment, Liverpool’s long-term succession plan for Salah might begin at home rather than in the transfer market. If he keeps him on the left, the search for an external solution will only intensify.

Either way, the new manager has a tantalising project on his hands. Jacquet’s integration, Jones’s decision and Ngumoha’s evolution will not just shape this pre-season tour. They could define the first chapter of Iraola’s Liverpool – and tell us how bold he really intends to be.