Liverpool boss Andoni Iraola has made an encouraging start to life at Anfield as major changes are taking place on and off the pitch for the Premier League titans
Liverpool are undergoing a period of change on and off the pitch with a new sporting director set to assist new manager Andoni Iraola in his quest to get the Reds back to the top.
Iraola’s side remain undefeated in league and cup under the Spanish coach, with a 1-0 win away against Bournemouth on Sunday capping off a fine week that earlier saw a 3-1 victory over Tottenham in the Carabao Cup. Despite drawing three of their opening five Premier League fixtures, they now sit sixth in the table, after three consecutive clean sheets in the league.
An impressive victory over Atletico Madrid in Iraola’s debut Champions League fixture has also indicated that Liverpool may have recovered from their woeful title defence last season. But they face a stern test when they return to action at home against Manchester City on October 11, kicking off a challenging run of fixtures. Meanwhile, there’s major developments behind the scenes. Here’s all the latest news from Anfield.
Kylian Mbappe’s nearly moment
Kylian Mbappe is one of European football’s most iconic figures as a World Cup winner with France and the spearhead of Real Madrid’s attack.
His achievements for Paris Saint-Germain included 256 goals across 308 outings plus six Ligue 1 crowns, but he was unable to drive them to the Champions League triumphs that would later come in his absence.
However, before he even joined Les Parisiens, Mbappe confesses he held talks with Liverpool and his mum actually favoured a switch to Merseyside, reports the Mirror.
“It was while I was playing in Monaco,” Mbappe told The Athletic, recalling events from 2017. “I had to make a decision. And yes, I was close to Liverpool. My mum was a big fan of Jurgen Klopp and the favourite destination for my mum was Liverpool. She wanted me to go there.
“I didn’t listen because I wanted to play in my city, Paris. I didn’t want to leave my country before I was someone. But yes, my mum was always saying, ‘Liverpool – you’re going to be there, playing at Anfield, it’s going to be insane for you.’ I was like, ‘OK!'”.
“She went there. She went to the city, to the stadium and met the people. She was like, ‘It’s a wonderful club, everybody’s so kind, it’s a family club, a big club.’ She went to Anfield and fell in love with it. She watched a few games alone, to feel the atmosphere, because she wanted to imagine me in this stadium.
“All the time we were talking. ‘What do you think, Mum?’ She’d say, ‘For me, you have to go to Liverpool.’ I said, ‘Okay, okay, okay!’ because Jurgen Klopp was an amazing manager. I met him and had a wonderful relationship with him. I had big respect for him.”
However, Mbappe ultimately desired to make his mark in his homeland before venturing overseas, and he instead moved from Monaco to PSG on an initial loan arrangement with a staggering £154million compulsory purchase clause.
Liverpool in the meantime assembled one of the greatest attacks in football history without him, as Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah fired the Reds to Premier League and Champions League glory.
Andoni Iraola’s striker blueprint
Liverpool welcomed Alexander Isak from Newcastle United for a record-breaking £125m last summer, only for his first campaign to be blighted by fitness issues and a nightmare leg break.
The Swedish striker has looked more like his old self so far this season, with four goals in five Premier League outings so far. Yet Iraola reportedly has specific plans for utilising the 27-year-old and wants him to adjust his style of play.
As per the Daily Mail, Iraola is demanding more from Isak and is even showing him footage of young talent Lewis Koumas in an effort to enhance his off-the-ball movement and defensive contributions.
Iraola’s vision is for the Swedish forward to help stifle teams as his Bournemouth side did. He wants Isak to spearhead the press with greater determination and get more involved in the game, working in tandem with Florian Wirtz.
The Spanish boss intends to deploy both Isak and Koumas, with his ideal strategy being to substitute two of his attacking players around the 60-minute mark, hoping that they have expended significant energy by then.
New sporting director
Liverpool’s owners Fenway Sports Group (FSG) are said to be close to agreeing a deal for an internal candidate to replace Richard Hughes as Liverpool’s sporting director.
Hughes left the club earlier this month following a turbulent summer, having decided to leave one of the biggest clubs in world football for a lucrative role with Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal.
His controversial exit came after the departure of another senior figure in Michael Edwards, who stepped down as FSG’s chief executive officer of football in July.
The Athletic reports that FSG’s technical director Julian Ward will now become Liverpool’s sporting director, a role he previously held during Jurgen Klopp’s tenure.
Ward first joined the club in 2012. He was European scouting manager for Spain and Portugal, then loan pathways manager and then assistant sporting director, before taking the sporting director job when Edwards left in 2022.
He shocked the club when he decided to leave after just one year, before returning to the fold by following Edwards back to FSG in 2024, where he has been tasked with overseeing player development pathways and the academy
During his short reign as sporting director he signed Premier League winners Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez, Cody Gakpo and Alexis Mac Allister.