Liverpool's Squad Depth Concerns Amid Injury Challenges

Liverpool’s squad looks light. The window is shut. And yet, behind the scenes, there is at least one shaft of light cutting through the gloom at Anfield.

The club failed to land a right-sided winger, a midfielder or a right-back before the deadline, leaving obvious gaps in Arne Slot’s options. A late move to take Malo Gusto on loan from Chelsea was explored, with the Frenchman viewed as cover both at right-back and in midfield. Chelsea, though, refused to play ball on the terms Liverpool wanted, and the idea died there.

So Liverpool are left to patch and improvise, waiting for their own players to heal. That is where the optimism lies.

According to The Times, the club expect Hugo Ekitike, Giovanni Leoni and Conor Bradley all to feature for a “chunk” of the season. All three are currently sidelined, all three have been out for a long time, and all three are dealing with serious problems.

• Ekitike is actually the most recent casualty, yet his lay-off still stretches back to April.
• Bradley has been missing since the turn of the year.
• Leoni has been out since last September, approaching a full year on the treatment table.

These are not niggles. They are the sort of injuries that usually come with vague timelines and even vaguer expectations about what a player will look like when he finally returns. Liverpool know that simply getting them back on the pitch is only the first step. Match sharpness will lag behind. Full fitness will take longer still.

That is why the idea of each of them playing a genuine slice of the campaign feels so significant. A “chunk” suggests more than a cameo, more than a token appearance. It hints at at least a month of involvement for each, and inside the club there will be hope that one or two can offer considerably more than that.

Leoni is the closest. The defender is expected to be back in contention relatively soon, though Liverpool will not rush him after such a long absence. Ekitike’s road looks longer, with a return pencilled in closer to Christmas, but the expectation remains that he will still play his part in 2026.

Bradley is the great unknown. Information around his condition has been sparse, and there has been little clarity on the true extent of his injury or a firm recovery date. The club’s attempt to bring in another right-back hardly screamed confidence in his short-term availability.

Yet The Times’ line that Bradley, too, could still play a chunk of the season cuts through that uncertainty. For a squad stretched thin on the right side and at full-back, that single detail changes the mood.

Liverpool will have to make do with what they have for now. But if Ekitike, Leoni and Bradley really do step back into the frame in time to influence the run-in, this thin-looking squad might suddenly feel a lot less fragile.