Liverpool's Contract Chaos Awaits Andoni Iraola

Andoni Iraola hasn’t even taken charge of a Liverpool game yet, but one of the club’s most familiar headaches is already waiting for him at the door.

Contract chaos.

The Basque coach, appointed on a two-year deal after catching the eye during three impressive seasons at Bournemouth, walks into a dressing room that could look very different in 12 months’ time. Not because of a grand rebuild. Because Liverpool have once again allowed key players to drift towards the end of their contracts.

He already starts one defender down. Ibrahima Konate, a first-choice pick under Arne Slot, has gone. Talks over a new deal broke down, the club confirmed his exit at the end of his contract, and the French centre-back then made it official himself on social media: his Anfield chapter is closed, and Liverpool receive nothing.

The worry for Iraola is that Konate may be the first of many.

A captain, a goalkeeper, and the spine of a team

Six more first-team players are now inside the final year of their deals. Not squad fillers. Not fringe faces. The core.

• Virgil van Dijk, the captain and defensive standard-bearer.
• Alisson Becker, arguably the most important goalkeeper Liverpool have had in the modern era.
• Joe Gomez, the versatile defender who can plug almost any gap.
• Curtis Jones, a homegrown midfielder entering what should be his prime.
• Wataru Endo, the steadying presence in the middle of the pitch.
• Stefan Bajcetic, the highly rated youngster many see as part of Liverpool’s future.

If none of them sign new contracts, they all walk away for free next summer.

For Iraola, that creates a fog over his planning. Which of these players can he build around? Which will still be in his dressing room in a year’s time? Every team needs a clear spine; his is written in pencil.

For the club, the numbers sting. The combined transfer value of that group sits at around £74 million, according to transfermarkt. Letting that kind of value evaporate, as deals tick down, is a brutal way to do business in an era where every pound shapes the next window.

An old mistake, repeated

This is not a new story at Anfield. It is a pattern.

Liverpool have repeatedly allowed contracts to run dangerously low, watching valuations slide as players edge towards free agency. Sell too late and you accept cut-price fees. Wait too long and you get nothing at all.

Last season brought the clearest warning. The futures of Van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold hung over the campaign, a constant subplot to everything happening on the pitch. It distracted, it unsettled, and it left supporters anxious about what came next.

The resolution did little to calm the mood. Alexander-Arnold departed in the summer of 2025, a seismic moment for the club and a decision that infuriated large sections of the fanbase. Liverpool at least clawed back a fee because his move to Real Madrid came before his contract expired, but it was a sliver of consolation.

Salah and Van Dijk stayed, though on short-term contracts that underlined where the power really sat. The players had leverage, and they used it. Now, a fresh batch of key figures hold the same cards.

Iraola’s first big battle

So Iraola’s early weeks will not just be about tactics, training-ground drills or imposing his pressing game. His first major contest may be fought in meeting rooms, not technical areas.

He will have to sit down with Liverpool’s hierarchy and make sharp, possibly unpopular calls. Who is essential to his project and must be pushed towards a renewal at almost any cost? Who should be cashed in on now, while some value remains, even if it hurts in the short term? Who can he afford to gamble on, risking a free transfer in exchange for one more year of their influence on the pitch?

There is no easy version of that conversation. Let too many veterans go and you rip the heart out of a squad. Hold on to everyone and you risk another summer like this one, only with even more players walking away for nothing.

Liverpool have already seen what happens when these issues are kicked down the road. Iraola, still unpacking his bags, now has to decide whether this is the moment the club finally breaks the cycle — or whether another cornerstone of Anfield’s present will be allowed to drift into the past for free.