Iraola's Ambitious Liverpool Rebuild: A New Era Begins

Andoni Iraola walks into Anfield with his eyes wide open and his ambitions even wider.

The Basque coach, fresh from hauling AFC Bournemouth into Europe for the first time in their history, now inherits a Liverpool side that finished just one place above his old club but carries the weight of a city, a history and a recent league title on its shoulders.

“Liverpool is Liverpool,” he told the club’s website on his first day in the job, a line that needs no embellishment on Merseyside. The pull of the place did the rest. The atmosphere. The stands that feel like they lean over the pitch. The calibre of the dressing room. The chance, as he put it, “to fight for titles”.

That is the job description now. Nothing less.

Iraola’s new Liverpool: rest, reset, and a different kind of pre-season

Iraola arrives at a club in transition but not in crisis. Champions only a season ago, Liverpool now face the familiar problem of elite sides: how to refresh without losing identity, how to move on from icons without drifting.

The calendar offers him an unusual starting point. Eleven Liverpool players are away at the upcoming FIFA World Cup, which strips his early sessions of some of the biggest personalities but hands him something just as valuable: time with the rest.

“The senior players that have played in the World Cup, they’ve been feeling the pressure, they’ve been playing for their countries, I think they need and deserve a rest,” he said.

That pause opens a window. A different Liverpool will take the training pitches first – the fringe players, the youngsters, the loanees returning with something to prove.

“This allows us to give also important minutes to train more closely with the young players that probably we don’t know as well,” Iraola added. There are those who have been stuck in the development squad, others who have been learning their trade elsewhere. For them, this is an audition. For Iraola, it is live data.

“I think those trainings, those minutes will be very valuable for us to take decisions,” he said. The message is clear: reputations help, but they do not guarantee anything.

Diomande on the radar as Liverpool hunt Salah’s successor

One decision looms larger than the rest. Mohamed Salah, after nine seasons and a mountain of goals, is leaving Anfield. Replacing that output, that presence, that sense of inevitability on the right flank, is the defining transfer challenge of Liverpool’s summer.

Yan Diomande has surged into that conversation.

At just 19, the RB Leipzig winger has become one of the most coveted young forwards in Europe. The Athletic’s David Ornstein reports that Liverpool have made contact with the Bundesliga club over a possible deal, with Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City also circling.

The numbers explain the fuss. Thirteen goals and 10 assists in 36 games in all competitions last season. A key role in Leipzig’s push into the UEFA Champions League. And a dribbling output that borders on the outrageous: 118 successful dribbles, 50 more than any other player in the Bundesliga.

If he does land at Anfield, it will feel like a return of sorts. Diomande has already sampled English football’s corridors without ever stepping fully inside. He had trials at Chelsea, Crystal Palace and Bournemouth, and even spent time at Rangers in Scotland.

“I did not know what was going on,” he told Sky Sports of that period. “For me, it was just funny moving from club to club like this, to see players like [Michael] Olise and [Eberechi] Eze. That was a good experience.”

Nothing stuck. No permanent deal, no big unveiling. Instead, he signed for Leganes in November 2024, making only 10 LaLiga appearances before Leipzig pounced last summer and unlocked his potential.

“Everything went fast,” Diomande said. “This year was amazing for me. To play in the AFCON at 19, to qualify for the World Cup, to play in the Champions League, and I am on my way to the World Cup. I am just proud.”

Liverpool’s recruitment team see a right winger who can stretch games, break lines and grow into the void Salah leaves behind. The competition is fierce, the fee will be high, but the need at Anfield is obvious.

United double down on their new blueprint

Across the north-west, Manchester United are trying something rare at Old Trafford: sticking to a plan.

Last summer’s transfer window delivered a new attacking spine. Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko all hit double figures in the league after arriving ahead of the 2025/26 season, while goalkeeper Senne Lammens has just been named Barclays Transfer of the Season.

United finished third in the Premier League and, crucially, felt coherent. Omar Berrada, the club’s chief executive, wants more of the same.

“I think the template for what we did last summer will be replicated,” he told the club’s Inside Carrington podcast.

The word “template” matters. For too long, United’s transfer work has looked reactive, dictated by noise and opportunity rather than structure. Berrada painted a different picture: meticulous planning, clear positional priorities, and contingency for the chaos that every window brings.

“You always go into a window and you don’t know how you’re going to come out of it, but you have to be really prepared,” he said. There could be exits no one saw coming. There could be a player suddenly available that changes everything. United want to be ready for both.

“We have to be ready, we have to be agile and flexible. But we have a clear plan.”

That plan, as Berrada sees it, blends profiles rather than chasing star names for the sake of it.

“I do think what we saw last season is a good way forward for us, which is we want a mix of experience and youth, we want a mix of players who have demonstrated they can perform in the Premier League and perhaps also players who are doing very well outside the Premier League.”

The first major move of this summer appears already lined up. BBC Sport reported earlier in the week that United have agreed a £35 million deal with Atalanta for Brazil midfielder Ederson. If last year is any guide, he will not be the last piece.

Amad stuns France and rattles the favourites

On the international stage, one United player has already made his mark before a ball is kicked at the World Cup.

France, finalists in 2022 and many people’s favourites for this year’s tournament, were handed a jolt by Ivory Coast – and by Amad.

Didier Deschamps’ side went ahead on the stroke of half-time through a brilliant strike from Manchester City’s Rayan Cherki, a reminder of the depth and flair at France’s disposal. It felt like the script: control, a flash of quality, a routine warm-up win.

Amad tore it up.

Coming off the bench, he found the bottom corner with a precise first-time finish in the 84th minute, turning a friendly into a statement. It was the sort of goal that lingers in a coach’s mind, the sort that can tilt selection debates in the days before a tournament begins.

“It’s a wake-up call, if we needed one,” Deschamps said. He refused to panic. “I’m not going to dramatise the defeat, just as I wouldn’t have become overly excited if we had won. It’s part of the preparation process.”

The cast list underlined the Premier League’s reach. Lucas Digne, Maxence Lacroix, Malo Gusto, Ibrahima Konate, Jean-Philippe Mateta, Ibrahim Sangare and Simon Adingra all featured, a reminder that club narratives will bleed into the World Cup and back again.

Elsewhere, another Premier League forward found the net. Arsenal striker Viktor Gyokeres scored in Sweden’s 2-2 draw with Greece, curling in a free-kick early in the second half after Liverpool defender Kostas Tsimikas had opened the scoring for the Greeks. Leeds United’s Gabriel Gudmundsson, Brighton & Hove Albion’s Yasin Ayari and Liverpool’s Alexander Isak all started for Sweden in a game that felt more like a tune-up than a trial.

The domestic season may be over, but its themes refuse to fade. Iraola’s Liverpool rebuild, United’s attempt at continuity, Diomande’s next step, Amad’s rise – all of it feeds into the same question as a new campaign looms: who is really getting their house in order, and who is about to be left behind?