Andoni Iraola's Transfer Plans for Liverpool: Keeping Mac Allister and Adding Width

Andoni Iraola knows exactly what he wants this summer – and what he refuses to lose.

At the heart of it all sits Alexis Mac Allister, a World Cup winner with two years left on his Liverpool deal and a name that keeps circling around Madrid. The noise is growing, but Iraola is not entertaining the idea of life without him.

“I think Alexis has been one of the best players of the club last year and has done a very good World Cup,” he said, laying it out plainly.

For Liverpool’s new head coach, that combination of club form and global pedigree makes Mac Allister the kind of player you build around, not cash in on.

So while the midfielder prepares to rejoin the squad after a long season that ended in the World Cup final with Argentina, Iraola is already drawing a line. Interest from elsewhere? Expected. Losing him? Not in his plans.

“It is normal that other clubs want our best players, our good players, it always happens in other markets. But I want to, also as other clubs want, I want to keep my good players. Probably I'm looking forward more to signing new players than the ones we have here.”

That last line is the real tell. Iraola is not in Merseyside to oversee a sale. He is here to rebuild a side that has just lost three pillars of the dressing room.

Holes to fill after major exits

Mohamed Salah. Andy Robertson. Ibrahima Konate. Three big names, three big absences, and three different parts of the pitch suddenly stripped of their usual certainty.

Iraola did not try to dress it up. He called the need for reinforcements “obvious” after those departures, and the scale of the task is clear. Liverpool are not just topping up the squad; they are replacing a goalscoring icon, a long-term left-back, and a central defender who had become central to their structure.

The first priority is clear: width.

“I think it is difficult to say a number. When the market is open, you have to be always open to new options to improve the squad,” Iraola said, before cutting straight to the point.

“There are obvious situations where we need to sign players. Winger for example, we definitely need to sign a winger, but there are other situations where we will have to analyse what the market gives you, what is the cost, how we also see the players we have.”

The pressure finally told in that admission. Liverpool’s attack has lost its reference point on the right, and Iraola wants a new wide threat in as soon as the market allows. Beyond that, his tone shifted to calculation – cost, availability, internal solutions. The classic balancing act of a club trying to stay at the top while navigating a changing squad.

Injuries, trust and tactical choices

The transfer plan is not being drawn up in isolation. Fitness clouds are drifting over several positions, and Iraola made it clear that injuries will shape what Liverpool do next.

“We have some tricky positions where we have injured players that we trust, but it is still not the ideal situation, so it will depend on a lot of things,” he explained.

That sentence reveals the tension. He believes in some of the players currently sidelined. He does not want to block their paths with short-term signings. But he also cannot walk into a new Premier League season short in key areas, especially with the spine of the team already altered by summer exits.

So his recruitment strategy becomes dynamic: monitor recoveries, weigh up risk, and decide whether to back the treatment room or the market.

American tour, new faces, and a waiting game

All of this is playing out thousands of miles from Anfield. The Reds are currently in the United States for their pre-season tour, a crucial stretch for Iraola to stamp his ideas on a squad in transition.

On those training pitches, and in friendlies against Sunderland, Leeds United, and Wrexham, he will get his first extended look at the group he has inherited. It is also the first real chance to integrate new signings Jeremy Jacquet and Victor Munoz, both under immediate scrutiny as the coaching staff test their levels against Premier League standards.

The tour doubles as an audition for the club’s younger players. Perform well here, and they may save Liverpool money in the market. Fall short, and Iraola’s calls for reinforcements will only grow louder.

One major piece of the puzzle, though, is still missing. Mac Allister remains on the outside for now, recovering from a season that stretched all the way to the World Cup final. Liverpool know what he brings when he walks back through the door: control, intelligence, and a calm edge in midfield.

They also know clubs like Madrid are watching.

For Iraola, the equation is simple. Keep Mac Allister, add a winger, trust the right injured players to return, and mould this new-look Liverpool in his image. Lose another cornerstone, and the rebuild becomes something far more drastic.