Andoni Iraola has hinted that he could be without two particular Liverpool players for his first official game in charge of the Reds next month.
The Basque’s reign as LFC head coach begins in earnest when his team visit Newcastle on the opening weekend of the Premier League season on 23 August, and he’ll be without a few long-term injury absentees (including Conor Bradley and Hugo Ekitike) for the trip to Tyneside.
Liverpool will gradually get their World Cup contingent back over the next few weeks, but the last to return will be Alexis Mac Allister and Victor Munoz, whose respective nations were involved in the final on Sunday.
Speaking to the media in Chicago on Tuesday, Iraola hinted that the Argentina midfielder and Spain winger mightn’t be fully ready to partake in the Premier League opener against Newcastle, given their lack of training time following their post-tournament break.
The head coach said (via liverpoolfc.com): “I think the most difficult situations logically will be Alexis and Victor because they played until the end of the tournament, so I think they deserve their holidays and some rest also.
“I hope they have time to at least train with us a little bit, but it is true that it will probably affect the beginning of the season a little bit. We cannot only think in the short-term and the first game against Newcastle.
“We have to also understand, especially in the case of Alexis, who played a lot of minutes during the season and a lot of minutes in the World Cup, that they deserve this rest. All the others should be fine to arrive in perfect conditions to the first game.”
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Liverpool typically grant their players three weeks off after their involvement at a summer international tournament, in which case Mac Allister and Munoz wouldn’t be due to report to the AXA Training Centre until 10 August at the earliest.
That’d give them less than a fortnight of training time before the season opener against Newcastle, and they mightn’t even have that much if they’re granted additional leave beyond the usual three-week window.
Iraola referenced the sheer volume of football that the Argentine midfielder has played over the past 12 months (see table below), and our number 10 is likely to be a key player again in 2026/27, so any downtime that he can be afforded is welcome.
By contrast, Munoz didn’t play a minute at the World Cup and could do with as much training time as possible to become acquainted with his new head coach and teammates at Liverpool, so hopefully he can link up with the squad as soon as reasonably possible.
Coming into another hectic season in which the Reds will compete on four fronts, management of players’ minutes will be vital, especially with Iraola already down a few bodies due to long-term injury problems.
As much as we’d like to see everyone back as swiftly as possible, it’s also important that they’re not rushed back prematurely and break down again due to being less than fully fit. It’s a delicate balancing act that the management need to get right.
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