Liverpool's Defensive Crisis: Injuries and New Signings
Andoni Iraola did not need a medical report to know he had a problem. He could see it in Joe Gomez’s reaction.
“Joe has a muscle injury,” the Liverpool manager admitted, the concern clear enough. Gomez felt it straight away, signalled straight away, and now Liverpool’s defensive plans for the start of the season are being ripped up before a ball has even been kicked in anger.
For Iraola, the picture is brutally simple: Ibrahima Konate has gone, Jeremy Jacquet is struggling, Gomez is out for weeks, and Virgil van Dijk is the last senior centre-back standing.
Centre-backs disappearing, options shrinking
The timing could hardly be worse. Konate’s departure had already forced Liverpool to rethink their defensive core, and the plan was to lean on Gomez’s versatility and Jacquet’s promise while a new signing settled.
That plan has gone.
“I think it was quite clear since he complained straight away, so it will depend how he evolves, but he will be some weeks off,” Iraola said of Gomez. A normal muscle injury, yes, but the calendar does not care. The manager’s own rule of thumb is blunt: “Normally I always put myself as one month.”
One month on the sidelines, with the season looming. Too tight, too risky.
“I think it's going to be impossible to have him for the start of the season because we are not so far away,” Iraola added. The diagnosis is not dramatic, but the implications are. Liverpool will begin under a new manager, in a new cycle, with their captain as the only fully fit, fully trusted centre-back.
Jacquet in limbo
If Gomez’s situation is frustrating, Jacquet’s is simply awkward. He started pre-season well, got through the first phase impressively, then the warning lights began to flicker.
“Now he's feeling some discomfort, so we don't want to rush him,” Iraola explained. Jacquet has already spent “a lot of months without playing,” and Liverpool know what happens when you gamble on a half-fit defender in August: you pay for it in October.
The temptation is obvious. Iraola wants to see Jacquet alongside Van Dijk, to test that pairing properly, to know if the internal solution is already in the building. But every instinct is telling him to wait.
“Obviously I would like to try with him with Virgil when he recovers, because with the injury of Joe we've been without senior centre-backs. But we have to be careful with Jeremy, yes.”
Careful, but decisive. The shortage has forced Liverpool’s hand in the market.
Araujo: leadership as much as defending
That is where Ronald Araujo comes in. This is not just a body through the door; it is a statement about what Iraola wants his defence to look like.
Liverpool are closing in on a player who has already worn one of the most demanding armbands in world football. In January 2026, Araujo was made Barcelona captain after the departure of Marc-Andre ter Stegen, a role he grew into across more than 200 appearances for the club. He has lived the pressure, carried the responsibility, and learned to organise a back line under constant scrutiny.
Liverpool are not only signing a centre-back. They are importing authority.
In a dressing room that still looks to Van Dijk, adding another defender used to leading a giant club feels deliberate. When your only fit senior centre-back is also your captain, you either cross your fingers or you go and find him a partner who understands what it means to carry a team.
Iraola has chosen the second option.
Building Iraola’s Liverpool
If all goes according to plan, Araujo will become the second signing of the Iraola era, following the arrival of Spanish forward Victor Munoz from Osasuna for £34.5 million earlier in the summer. Munoz is meant to sharpen the edge of Liverpool’s attack; Araujo is being lined up to stabilise the spine.
Two signings, two clear messages. Energy and goals at one end, leadership and steel at the other.
Liverpool’s pre-season has already stripped away any illusions about depth at centre-back. Konate gone, Gomez sidelined, Jacquet not yet ready to trust over a run of games: the situation has forced the club into action.
Now the question is no longer whether Liverpool need a defender. It is how quickly Araujo can walk into this storm, stand next to Van Dijk, and convince everyone that the foundations of Iraola’s new project are strong enough to carry what comes next.
