Liverpool's Centre-Back Dilemma: Youth vs Experience
Liverpool’s future at centre-back is already in the building. The problem is the present.
When Andoni Iraola sent his team out for their first pre-season outing against Sunderland, the script did not feature two teenagers at the heart of his defence. Eight minutes in, it was torn up.
Joe Gomez, the club’s longest-serving player and one of the few senior options left at centre-back, limped off. By full-time, Liverpool’s long-term planning had been dragged into the harsh light of the here and now.
Kids from Qatar, thrown into the fire
Liverpool’s recruitment department had congratulated itself last November. At the U17 World Cup in Qatar, two centre-backs stood out: Mor Talla Ndiaye of Senegal and Austria’s Ifeanyi Ndukwe. Within weeks, Liverpool moved decisively, paying a combined £3.5m to bring them in.
Under Matt Newberry, the club’s head of global talent, it felt like textbook succession planning. Identify the best young defenders, integrate them gradually, let them grow in the shadows of Virgil van Dijk, Gomez and Ibrahima Konate.
Instead, against Sunderland, the teenagers found themselves playing together for most of Liverpool’s opening pre-season fixture. Not as a glimpse of tomorrow, but as a symptom of a problem today.
Jeremy Jacquet and Giovanni Leoni, the two blue-chip young centre-backs signed to bridge the gap between youth and senior level, were not fit to play. Gomez then went down. Suddenly, the future was the present.
A thin line at the back
Iraola had already sounded the alarm. Even before Gomez’s latest setback, he described his defensive options as “very thin”. The scene in Chicago on Sunday underlined the point: Gomez absent from training, the club waiting on scans, the mood tinged with grim familiarity.
Since joining from Charlton in 2015, Gomez has missed 225 games through injury, according to Transfermarkt. Every time he seems ready to re-establish himself, his body intervenes. This summer was supposed to be a chance to cement his role under a new head coach. Instead, Liverpool wait again.
Virgil van Dijk stands alone as the only fit senior centre-back. He is captain, leader, and last season he played every Premier League minute. He is also 35, no longer the imperious, untouchable presence of his peak, and heading into the final year of his contract.
So is Gomez. Both could leave next summer. Liverpool are trying to plan beyond them while still relying on them. That is a dangerous balance.
Big bets on youth, shortfall in experience
One of the reasons Liverpool allowed Konate to leave on a free transfer for Real Madrid was their conviction in the next wave. Internally, they rated Jacquet, 21, and Leoni, 19, as the best young centre-backs in France and Italy.
They backed that judgement heavily: £60m for Jacquet, £26m for Leoni. Jacquet is expected to make his debut against Leeds on Sunday. Leoni will follow once fit. The club will give them time, patience and minutes.
But they are not ready-made. Nor are Ndiaye and Ndukwe. Not yet.
Robbie Fowler, watching on in New York as Liverpool prepare to face Wrexham, did not dress it up.
“We need players. It’s fairly obvious,” he told BBC Sport.
His sympathy for Gomez was genuine. “I’m very sad for Joe Gomez, who has been so unfortunate with injuries. This could have been a real chance to cement his place and for him to show that we don’t need another centre-half.”
The plan, in theory, is clear. Van Dijk and Gomez guide Jacquet, Leoni, Ndiaye and Ndukwe through their early years. Senior know-how plus youthful energy. Reality has cut into that vision.
“We won’t see the best version of the young lads yet,” Fowler said, “but you do need that experience in the squad. And yes, the manager’s been on record saying that we need players and I would not be surprised if another centre-half is in that conversation.”
Market pressure and missed moves
From the outside, Liverpool’s decision not to close a deal for Marc Guehi last summer now looks like a sliding-doors moment. Jarell Quansah, who left for Bayer Leverkusen for £35m, could theoretically return thanks to a buyback clause, but there are no active plans to trigger it.
The financial picture also matters. If Liverpool push ahead for Bradley Barcola, valued by Paris St-Germain at more than £100m, their room to manoeuvre elsewhere tightens. The combined outlay on Jacquet and Victor Munoz already stands at £94.5m.
Without major sales from Iraola’s current squad, this window will not mirror last summer’s record £450m spree. The money has largely been spent. The margin for error is slim.
Fowler framed the issue in simple terms.
“When you look at Liverpool across the last decade, one of the problems that we’ve had is that the first 11 is more than capable but the argument that people have is the squad depth.
“I’m a big believer in getting the squad right because it gives everyone a lift and keeps people on their toes, knowing that if you’re not performing, someone else could do the job.”
He reached back to the club’s old standards. “Go back to the days of Phil Neal and he’ll tell you stories about how players would never want to get injured because they knew that if someone else came, they wouldn’t get their place back.
You need that mentality and I think that has a real knock-on effect on standards.”
Right now, Liverpool’s centre-back group does not inspire that kind of fear. It inspires concern.
Pipeline overflowing, top shelf almost empty
No one at Anfield worries about the quantity of young defenders in the system. In the six months from last summer to January 2026, Liverpool agreed deals for five centre-backs aged 20 or under: Leoni, Ndiaye, Ndukwe, Noah Adekoya and Jacquet.
Ndukwe impressed against Sunderland, showing why Liverpool moved quickly after spotting him in Qatar. Yet he cannot even stay this season. He does not meet UK work permit criteria and must go out on loan.
The pathway is crowded. The ceiling is high. The timeline, though, is unforgiving.
Van Dijk is ageing. Gomez is injured again. Konate is in Madrid. Jacquet and Leoni are talented but raw. Ndiaye and Ndukwe are prospects, not pillars.
Liverpool have built a future at centre-back that could be formidable in three or four years. Iraola has to navigate the next three or four months.
The long-term potential is secure. The short-term shortage is glaring. And unless Liverpool find a way to add experience quickly, the season will begin with a question hanging over the one area no elite team can afford to get wrong.
