Andoni Iraola's Ambitious Liverpool Journey Begins
Andoni Iraola steps into Anfield with his eyes fixed firmly on the top shelf.
The Basque coach, fresh from dragging AFC Bournemouth into Europe for the first time in the club’s history, now inherits a Liverpool side that finished just one place above his old team – and only a year removed from being crowned champions of England. The scale of the jump is obvious. So is the appeal.
“I think you don't need a lot of things to get attracted by Liverpool,” he told the club’s website on his first day in front of the microphones. Then he stripped the idea back to its core. “Liverpool is Liverpool.”
The pull for Iraola is clear: the noise, the weight of the badge, the calibre of the dressing room, and, most of all, the promise of trophies.
“The atmosphere, the supporters, the club, the players, the chance for me to coach top-level players, the chance to fight for titles. I think it cannot be more attractive than this. It’s difficult to find it. So, really excited to start.”
This is not a soft landing. Eleven Liverpool players are at the upcoming FIFA World Cup, leaving Iraola to start pre-season with a stripped-back senior group and a training pitch full of hopefuls. He sees opportunity, not inconvenience.
“The senior players that have played in the World Cup, they’ve been feeling the pressure, they’ve been playing for their countries, I think they need and deserve a rest,” he said.
That rest opens the door.
“This allows us to give also important minutes to train more closely with the young players that probably we don’t know as well.
“There are other players probably that haven’t had the minutes, have played for the development squad, have been on loan somewhere, and I think those trainings, those minutes will be very valuable for us to take decisions.”
Decisions that will shape his first Liverpool squad, and perhaps his first major signing.
Liverpool move early on Diomande
On the right flank, a vacancy looms. Mohamed Salah is leaving Anfield after nine seasons, and Liverpool have started to scan Europe for a successor with the kind of numbers and swagger that can survive the comparison.
Yan Diomande is firmly on that list.
The Athletic’s David Ornstein reports that Liverpool have contacted RB Leipzig about the 19-year-old winger, whose breakout year in Germany has put half of Europe on alert. Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City are also watching, but it is Liverpool who have taken the first formal step.
Diomande’s numbers last season demand attention: 13 goals and 10 assists in 36 appearances in all competitions, driving Leipzig into the UEFA Champions League. He did it with menace on the ball too – 118 successful dribbles, a staggering 50 more than any other player in the Bundesliga.
If he walks out at Anfield in red, it will not be his first brush with English football. As a teenager, he bounced through trials at Chelsea, Crystal Palace and Bournemouth, as well as a spell with Rangers in Scotland.
“I did not know what was going on,” he told Sky Sports of that nomadic spell. “For me, it was just funny moving from club to club like this, to see players like [Michael] Olise and [Eberechi] Eze. That was a good experience.”
None of those stops turned into a permanent deal. Instead, his path took him to Spain, signing for Leganes in November 2024. Ten LaLiga appearances later, RB Leipzig moved in and everything accelerated.
“Everything went fast,” he said. “This year was amazing for me. To play in the AFCON at 19, to qualify for the World Cup, to play in the Champions League, and I am on my way to the World Cup. I am just proud.”
Pride is one thing. Replacing Salah at Anfield is another. If Liverpool push the button, Iraola’s first marquee call will be whether a 19-year-old with a fearless dribble can carry the burden of one of the Premier League’s defining roles.
United double down on their transfer blueprint
Across the North West, Manchester United are planning a very different kind of summer – by trying to repeat the last one.
Their third-place finish in the Premier League owed much to a cluster of new arrivals who hit the ground running. Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko all reached double figures for league goals after joining ahead of the 2025/26 campaign, while goalkeeper Senne Lammens has just been named Barclays Transfer of the Season.
For Omar Berrada, the club’s chief executive, that is the model.
“I think the template for what we did last summer will be replicated,” he told the club’s Inside Carrington podcast.
The message is simple: plan hard, stay nimble.
“You always go into a window and you don’t know how you’re going to come out of it, but you have to be really prepared.
You have to have a clear plan, you have to know exactly what positions you’re looking to strengthen and you also have to be prepared for any eventuality. There could be exits we’re not expecting, there could be opportunities in the market that perhaps weren’t there at the beginning of the window.
“So, we have to be ready, we have to be agile and flexible. But we have a clear plan.”
That plan mixes proven quality with upside.
“I do think what we saw last season is a good way forward for us, which is we want a mix of experience and youth, we want a mix of players who have demonstrated they can perform in the Premier League and perhaps also players who are doing very well outside the Premier League.”
The first big move of this window is already in motion. BBC Sport reported earlier this week that United have agreed a £35 million deal with Atalanta for Brazil midfielder Ederson. If last summer is the template, he will not be the last through the door.
Amad stuns France as World Cup looms
On the international stage, one of United’s own delivered a jolt to the World Cup favourites.
France, finalists in 2022 and widely tipped to go one better this time, were handed a sharp reminder of tournament reality by Ivory Coast and Amad.
Rayan Cherki, on the books at Manchester City, had lit up the first half, curling in a brilliant effort on the cusp of the interval to give France the lead. It felt like the start of a routine warm-up win.
Then Amad arrived.
Off the bench, into space, and with six minutes to play, he drilled a first-time finish into the bottom corner for an 84th-minute winner that silenced French optimism, at least for the night.
The game carried a strong Premier League flavour. Lucas Digne, Maxence Lacroix, Malo Gusto, Ibrahima Konate and Jean-Philippe Mateta all featured for France, while Ivory Coast called on Ibrahim Sangare and Simon Adingra among others.
“It’s a wake-up call, if we needed one,” France coach Didier Deschamps said afterwards. “I’m not going to dramatise the defeat, just as I wouldn’t have become overly excited if we had won. It’s part of the preparation process.”
Elsewhere in the warm-ups, Arsenal’s Viktor Gyokeres kept his eye in for Sweden, scoring in a 2-2 draw with Greece. Liverpool defender Kostas Tsimikas had opened the scoring for the Greeks, before Gyokeres bent in a free-kick early in the second half.
Leeds United’s Gabriel Gudmundsson, Brighton & Hove Albion’s Yasin Ayari and Liverpool’s Alexander Isak all started for Sweden, a reminder of how deeply the Premier League now runs through the international game.
From Iraola’s first steps at Anfield to United’s calculated rebuild and Amad’s late winner against a giant, the Premier League’s fingerprints are already all over the season ahead – and the World Cup has not even kicked off yet.
