Liverpool's Defensive Puzzle: Luke Chambers and Celtic's Interest
Liverpool’s defensive puzzle is starting to move again – and Luke Chambers could be the first piece to shift.
After a chaotic, injury-ravaged season that forced Arne Slot into constant improvisation, Anfield has already felt different under Andoni Iraola. The Spaniard has not hesitated to lean into youth. Lewis Koumas, Trey Nyoni and Isaac Mabaya are no longer just names on a teamsheet; they’re being lined up for genuine roles across the campaign.
Yet while opportunity opens for some, it may soon close for Chambers.
Celtic circle as Chambers’ future comes into focus
Liverpool spent the summer reinforcing a back line that simply ran out of bodies last term. Ronald Araujo and Jeremy Jacquet arrived to stiffen the defence, but the scars of last season’s depth crisis were clear enough: Iraola wanted numbers, not just names.
That reality initially kept young defenders like Mabaya and Chambers around the first-team picture. They were cover, insurance, options in case the worst returned.
Now that stance is shifting.
Journalist Lewis Bower has revealed that Celtic “really like Luke Chambers”, with the Scottish champions considering a move for the defender. For a player currently sitting as Liverpool’s fifth-choice centre-back, that level of interest is significant. It also says plenty about Liverpool’s wider plan.
If the club are actively exploring a new home for Chambers, it suggests they believe someone else is coming down the track to claim that squad spot.
That someone is Ifeanyi Ndukwe.
Ndukwe waits in Levante limbo
Ndukwe lit up Liverpool’s pre-season. Calm on the ball, aggressive in the tackle, he played with the poise of a seasoned professional rather than a defender with barely any senior minutes behind him. With Ibrahima Konaté gone and a sizeable hole in the right side of central defence, many supporters wanted the Austrian fast-tracked straight into Iraola’s plans.
Paperwork said otherwise.
Without an immediate work permit, Liverpool had to send Ndukwe out on loan. Levante offered a platform: minutes in La Liga, exposure at a high level, and the chance to accumulate the points needed to qualify for a UK work permit.
The theory was sound. The reality has stalled.
Levante have yet to give Ndukwe meaningful game time, leaving him no closer to the threshold required to return to England. Every unused weekend delays Liverpool’s hopes of integrating a player some fans already talk about as a long-term pillar of the defence, a potential heir to Virgil van Dijk’s commanding presence.
A January gap – or a January gateway?
This is where Chambers and Celtic re-enter the picture.
If Chambers does move on in January and Ndukwe still lacks the work permit points to come back, Liverpool could find themselves light again at centre-back. The club expect to be active in the winter window, but the most elegant solution is obvious: replace Chambers in the squad with Ndukwe, not another external signing.
For that to happen, two things must fall into place. Ndukwe needs minutes at Levante – and quickly. Chambers needs a deal that suits all parties, with Celtic currently the most prominent admirers of a player still rated highly enough to attract a Champions League-winning club.
If those dominoes fall, Iraola gains exactly what he wants: a leaner, more dynamic defensive group, with a high-ceiling talent stepping into a role that had been blocked.
Liverpool’s back line has already been reshaped once this year. The next tweak may depend on whether Levante finally trust Ndukwe with the stage he has been waiting for.
