Iraola's Impressive Early Assessment of McConnell and Koumas
Andoni Iraola has been at Liverpool only a matter of weeks, but two names are already forcing their way into his thinking: James McConnell and Lewis Koumas.
They are not new faces at the club. They are not marquee signings. Yet in the early days of the Spaniard’s reign, the pair have made as loud an impression as any summer arrival.
Academy products back in the frame
Both McConnell and Koumas have come through Liverpool’s academy, both have already felt the glare of the first-team spotlight, and both were pushed to the fringes under former manager Arne Slot.
McConnell, a 21-year-old midfielder with 13 senior appearances to his name, was sent out to Ajax in the summer of 2025 when Slot decided he was not ready to play every week. The message was clear: development elsewhere, opportunity later.
Koumas, 20, has had an even more fragmented path. Capable of operating wide or through the middle, the Wales international has played just once for Liverpool’s first team. His recent years have been spent on loan at Stoke City, Birmingham City and Hull City, searching for rhythm and relevance. Slot did not use him at all during his tenure and turned to McConnell only four times.
That hierarchy may be about to change.
According to journalist Alan Nixon, Iraola has been “blown away” by the pair in his first days at the club and is seriously considering folding them into his first-team plans for the coming season. The interest in them is real: clubs want them on loan again, just as they have in the past. This time, Liverpool’s new manager may not be so willing to let them go.
Nixon reports that Iraola has “taken a shine” to the duo, noting that McConnell and Koumas “seem to have come on since their time away from Anfield and are now getting serious respect.” The suggestion is that those loans, with their mixed outcomes, have hardened the players and sharpened their games. Now, instead of being farmed out again, they could find themselves promoted and involved.
For two young footballers who have lived on the margins, it is a significant shift. For Liverpool, it hints at a manager ready to re-open pathways that had started to close.
Lessons in defeat
All of this comes against the backdrop of a 4-2 defeat to Leeds United in a pre-season friendly on Sunday, a match that gave Iraola a blunt, if useful, early look at his squad.
“I think we learn a lot of things,” he said afterwards. It was not the result he wanted, but he did not dismiss the exercise. He called it “probably the most useful friendly we played – in a positive way in the first half and in a negative way in the second half.”
The contrast between those two halves told him plenty. Control, structure and sharpness early on; looseness and vulnerability after the break. Pre-season or not, those are the kind of warning lights a new manager cannot ignore.
“I think we’ve learned a lot from today and I think we can take good conclusions and solve some things,” Iraola added. The tone was pragmatic rather than alarmed. This is the stage of the summer where mistakes are information, not yet scars.
First looks at the new core
There was more for Iraola to digest than just the scoreline. The Leeds game also brought first pre-season minutes for Florian Wirtz, Alexander Isak and Ryan Gravenberch, key figures in what Liverpool hope will be a refreshed core.
“I think they did really good,” the manager said. Each played 45 minutes. Wirtz and Isak featured in the first half, when Liverpool looked slicker and more in control, and Iraola acknowledged they “had an easier game or a better game” as a result.
Gravenberch’s introduction after the interval coincided with the team’s drop-off. “Ryan, it was costly for him,” Iraola admitted, a nod to the more chaotic, demanding nature of the second half rather than a criticism of the midfielder alone.
There was a minor scare when Jeremie Frimpong asked to come off, but Iraola moved quickly to calm any fears. He described it as “just some overload” and said he did not think the defender had suffered an injury. “I don’t think we’ve lost anyone,” he stressed, a small but important line in a period when fitness is as closely watched as form.
A different kind of opportunity
Pre-season often flatters. Performances fade when the real pressure arrives, and bright July cameos can vanish by October. Iraola will know that better than anyone.
Yet the early signs are clear enough. He has seen something in McConnell and Koumas that he believes can translate into competitive football, not just training-ground promise. He has watched their growth away from Anfield and appears ready to test whether that progress can now serve Liverpool rather than someone else.
Loan offers will come. They always do for players of this age and profile. This time, though, the decision might not be as straightforward as signing the paperwork and waving them off.
Under a new manager with fresh eyes and little allegiance to past pecking orders, McConnell and Koumas suddenly stand at a different kind of crossroads: another season on the road, or a real shot at Anfield when the games start to matter.
