Liverpool's Defensive Dilemma Ahead of Premier League Season

Andoni Iraola hasn’t even kicked a ball in the Premier League as Liverpool head coach, and already the old Anfield anxiety is back.

Two weeks from the start of the 2026/27 season, Liverpool look undercooked. The right wing still has no permanent heir to Mohamed Salah, the squad still feels one or two short, and at the back, the picture is even more alarming.

Araujo arrives into a storm

Ronald Araujo’s impending arrival should have been a statement signing, the kind of deal that announces a new era. Instead, it feels like a fire blanket thrown over a blaze that has been allowed to smoulder all summer.

Before Liverpool moved for the Uruguayan, Iraola was staring at the prospect of starting a Premier League season with just one fully fit senior center-back. That is not misfortune. That is planning gone wrong.

Joe Gomez is already ruled out. Giovanni Leoni, the bright hope who impressed before his ACL injury, has not yet rejoined full training. Jeremy Jacquet, in theory the next man up, has reported early for preseason but still hasn’t played a minute.

With doubts over whether the Frenchman will be involved against Monaco, the clock is ticking loudly. If he misses that Anfield friendly, the best scenario is a half of football against Como next weekend. Forty-five minutes of Serie A opposition, and then straight into St. James’ Park for a Premier League debut? That is hardly the bedding-in plan any coach would choose.

So Iraola is left with one clear instruction: protect Virgil van Dijk and Araujo at all costs. Wrap them in cotton wool, manage every training load, every sprint, every contact. Hope they build enough of an understanding in a handful of sessions to anchor a title-chasing defense from day one.

A familiar crisis, this time self-inflicted

Liverpool know all about injury crises at the back. The scars of 2020/21 still sit close to the surface. This time, though, the situation feels avoidable.

Anyone glancing at the squad at the start of the summer could see the numbers were light in defense. Araujo, for all his quality, has the air of a reactive move rather than the centerpiece of a carefully mapped rebuild. A short-term fix in a long-term problem area.

Even with him on board, Liverpool are one awkward landing, one mistimed challenge away from another reshuffle in the most delicate part of the pitch. Iraola may yet find himself reaching for the playbook left behind by Arne Slot.

Slot spent much of last season juggling the same issue. When Leoni went down with his ACL injury in September, Liverpool were left with just three senior center-backs for the rest of the campaign. The Dutchman did not panic. He improvised.

“Ryan (Gravenberch) and Wata (Endo) can play there,” he said early in the season, matter-of-fact. “So it is not like all of a sudden we don't have options in that position anymore.”

It was blunt, but it was the reality. Slot leaned on versatility and trusted his midfielders to cover.

Midfielders on standby

Endo’s ability to drop into the back line is well established. Across his three years at Liverpool, he has filled in at center-back when required, reading the game, marshalling the line, doing the unfussy work that keeps a side ticking.

Right now, though, even that safety net is frayed. Endo has only just returned to training after his own injury. Throwing him straight into the center of defense at Newcastle, in the intensity of a Premier League opener, would be a huge demand.

If Van Dijk or Araujo suffer so much as a minor setback, the next name in line is likely Ryan Gravenberch. He has played there before, but only sparingly. His most notable outing at center-back came in the 6-0 win over Qarabag in January, a night so one-sided that it barely offered a serious examination of his credentials in the role.

Judging his suitability for the Premier League’s most unforgiving position on that game would be reckless. Yet right now, options are so thin that Iraola might have no choice.

There is no secret, no hidden solution waiting in the wings. If Araujo or Van Dijk go down, Liverpool will be one step away from fielding a makeshift center-back pairing at St. James’ Park. Gravenberch or Endo, in from midfield, under the lights, against a Newcastle side that thrives on chaos and aerial duels.

It would not be a good look for a club with Liverpool’s ambitions, or for a recruitment department that knew this risk months ago.

The message to Araujo as he walks through the door could hardly be clearer: welcome to Anfield, now don’t get injured.