Andoni Iraola's Impact on Liverpool: McConnell and Koumas in Spotlight

Andoni Iraola has not taken long to put his stamp on Liverpool – and two academy graduates are suddenly right at the heart of his plans.

James McConnell and Lewis Koumas, once on the fringes and farmed out on loan, have caught the new manager’s eye in his first days at the club. According to journalist Alan Nixon, Iraola has been “blown away” by the pair and is seriously considering promoting them into his first‑team squad for the coming season.

For McConnell, this feels like a turning point. The 21-year-old midfielder has already made 13 senior appearances for Liverpool but never truly convinced previous boss Arne Slot that he was ready to handle the grind of a full Premier League campaign. Slot sent him to Ajax in the summer of 2025, a move designed to harden his game and test his temperament away from Anfield.

Koumas has had an even more nomadic start. Now 20, the Wales international can operate wide or through the middle and has just a single Liverpool first‑team appearance to his name. Stoke City, Birmingham City and Hull City have all had a look at him on loan, yet Slot did not call on him once during his time in charge, using McConnell only four times.

That hierarchy has shifted. Iraola, appointed earlier this summer, has walked into the same training pitches, watched the same young players – and seen something different. Clubs are already circling to take McConnell and Koumas on loan again, but Nixon reports that Liverpool’s new manager is leaning the other way, impressed by how both have grown during their time away.

“Midfielder McConnell and attacker Koumas seem to have come on since their time away from Anfield and are now getting serious respect,” Nixon wrote, capturing the change in mood around the pair. Respect is one thing. Responsibility at Liverpool is another. Iraola looks ready to offer both.

Iraola’s harsh Leeds lesson

The admiration for youth arrived on a day that gave Iraola his first real jolt as Liverpool manager. A 4-2 defeat to Leeds United in a pre-season friendly on Sunday laid bare both the promise and the flaws in his developing side.

He did not hide from it.

“I think we learn a lot of things,” he said afterwards. “Obviously it’s not the result you want but I think [it was] probably the most useful friendly we played – in a positive way in the first half and in a negative way in the second half.

“I think we’ve learned a lot from today and I think we can take good conclusions and solve some things.”

The split was clear in his mind: control and cohesion before the break, vulnerability and looseness after it. For a coach still bedding in his ideas, the contrast offered exactly the kind of raw footage he needs.

New faces, first steps

There was another reason the game mattered. Florian Wirtz, Alexander Isak and Ryan Gravenberch all pulled on a Liverpool shirt for the first time this pre-season, each given 45 minutes to ease into Iraola’s system.

“I think they did really good,” Iraola said. “They played their first 45 minutes.

“Obviously Florian and Alex, because they were playing in the first half, they had an easier game or a better game. Ryan, it was costly for him.”

The second half turned into heavier going, and Gravenberch felt it. Jeremie Frimpong also had to come off, prompting an early scare on the touchline, but Iraola moved quickly to calm any fears.

“Jeremie asked for the sub [but] I don’t think it’s an injury. It was just some overload and I hope he’s not injured in that way. I don’t think we’ve lost anyone.”

So the damage, for now, is only on the scoreboard and in the analysis room.

From loan lists to the inner circle?

Against that backdrop, the rise of McConnell and Koumas becomes more intriguing. Iraola is trying to sharpen Liverpool’s intensity and refresh an ageing core. He has new marquee signings to integrate and established stars to keep onside. Yet his early days have also been marked by a willingness to look down the ladder, to the players who have been living on the edge of the squad.

Under Slot, McConnell and Koumas were names on a loan list. Under Iraola, they might become options off the bench, or even starters in the right fixtures. The manager has seen enough in training and in their development away from Anfield to at least pause the conveyor belt that has been sending them elsewhere.

Pre-season can be deceptive. A few bright sessions, a sharp cameo, a good word from a journalist – none of that guarantees a long-term role at a club of Liverpool’s size. But every season has its hinge moments, the quiet weeks where a manager makes decisions that shape the months to come.

For McConnell and Koumas, this could be that moment. If Iraola’s early conviction holds, two players who barely featured under the previous regime might walk into a very different Liverpool dressing room when the real games begin.