Liverpool preview: Five key questions heading into 2026-27 season

By Al Jazeera Staff and Reuters.

Key points

• While Liverpool will miss the experience of the departing Andy Robertson, left-back Milos Kerkez will additionally be anticipated to step up through the gears after an underwhelming season.
• Jeremie Frimpong additionally played on the right wing last season with limited success.
• Liverpool's defence was a major factor in last season's collapse and requires an urgent fix from Iraola.
• Van Dijk remarked the club's revamped backline ⁠would require some ⁠time to click into gear.
• If they click, Liverpool will justify last season's outlay and this preseason's relative inactivity in the transfer market.

New Liverpool boss Andoni Iraola will hope his brand of high-octane attacking football can banish memories of an expensive squad that wildly underperformed in their title defence last season and is seeking to find a way back to challenging for the crown.

For context, the new campaign gets under way on August 21 when champions Arsenal host promoted Coventry City, with Liverpool's first game at Newcastle United two days afterwards giving their fans the first chance to see what their Spanish boss can do at the helm. Here are the five most pressing questions around Liverpool's new season. Can Iraola revive Liverpool's title credentials while imposing his own style?

Liverpool won the league by a wide margin in 2024-25, then finished fifth last season while conceding 53 goals and losing 12 matches – a collapse that duly obtained Arne Slot sacked.

Iraola arrives from three impressive years at Bournemouth with a high-intensity pressing style that's been compared with peak Jurgen Klopp, and some fans will hope a return to that kind of football will suit a squad that often looked lost playing Slot's more controlled football.

But Iraola's style requires high levels of stamina, and he acknowledged in preseason that the players could not yet sustain the level he wanted for the duration of a game.

"We have to be a team ⁠that works hard, intense, aggressive, vertical so everyone can be identified, everyone can feel comfortable supporting this team, " Iraola informed a news conference in June when he was appointed. Who will fill the Salah-shaped hole?

After a public falling-out with the club during a miserable season, closes the door on an otherwise glorious and goal-filled chapter in Liverpool's history, mohamed Salah's departure after nine years.

While academy products like Rio Ngumoha are pushing for minutes, rather than buying a direct replacement, Liverpool have signed 23-year-old Spain international Victor Munoz to offer cover throughout the front line and wings.

Jeremie Frimpong additionally played on the right wing last season with limited success. So the stage is set for a breakout season for Munoz or Ngumoha. Can Iraola obtain a tune out of Isak and Wirtz?

Liverpool's record signings of Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz were meant to fire a title defence and instead delivered a season marred by injuries and inconsistent form that neither player will want to remember.

Both are now fit and back for preseason and, on paper, Iraola's approach should suit Wirtz's work-rate and offer Isak the kind of service he thrived on at Newcastle.

If they click, Liverpool will justify last season's outlay and this preseason's relative inactivity in the transfer market. If they struggle again, major questions will be asked over the recruitment strategy. Has the leaky defence been fixed?

Liverpool's defence was a major factor in last season's collapse and requires an urgent fix from Iraola. As well as the young French centre-back Jeremy Jacquet, while allowing the erratic Ibrahima Konate to leave, to that end, he has brought in centre-back Ronald Araujo on a season-long loan from Barcelona to partner captain Virgil van Dijk.

While Conor Bradley additionally had fitness woes, leaving Iraola potentially still short of a specialist option there, right-back remains a concern – Frimpong struggled with injuries and for form last season.

Iraola's high defensive line will ask serious questions regarding pace and positioning at the back, and he does not have much time to secure it right.

"It's pretty clear that you need to form a connection together and take a bit of time. But it's, ‌in my opinion, absolutely normal. But hopefully, we can obtain that going as swiftly as feasible, " he remarked. What does the Bezos investment mean for the club?

Fenway Sports Group has agreed to sell roughly 38 percent of Liverpool to 1892 Holdings, a consortium including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Facebook cofounder Eduardo Saverin, and the Mittal family, in a accord that values the club at more than $7bn.

FSG retains majority ownership and operational control for now, but the consortium has an option to become the club's controlling shareholder within the next year at a valuation closer to $8bn.

In practice, the timing of the accord, coming just as Iraola begins a rebuild and after a summer that has looked notably thrifty compared with last year's enormous transfer outlay, has already fuelled speculation regarding potential new investment for January or next summer's transfer windows.

Taken together, the developments around liverpool preview: Five key questions heading into 2026 point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.