Liverpool's Contract Dilemma: Iraola's Challenge Ahead
Andoni Iraola hasn’t even taken charge of a game at Anfield, yet one of Liverpool’s most damaging modern habits is already waiting for him at the door.
The new head coach, appointed on a two-year deal after an eye-catching spell at Bournemouth, inherits a squad rich in talent but alarmingly light on contractual security. The ink on his contract is barely dry and he already knows he will be without Ibrahima Konaté, a defender trusted by his predecessor Arne Slot, who walks away on a free this summer.
Liverpool confirmed last week that Konaté would depart at the end of his deal after negotiations broke down. The centre-back then made it official himself, bidding farewell to Anfield on social media. A starting defender gone for nothing. Again.
And that may only be the start.
Six deals, one looming dilemma
Over the next 12 months, six more first‑team players are on course to follow Konaté out of the club for free if nothing changes. The list is stark: captain Virgil van Dijk, Curtis Jones, Alisson Becker, Joe Gomez, Wataru Endo and Stefan Bajcetic all enter the final year of their contracts with no guarantees beyond it.
For Iraola, it’s a tactical puzzle and a political one. How do you build a long-term project when you don’t know which pillars of the dressing room will still be standing in a year? How do you demand total commitment from players who, on paper, are already edging towards the exit?
For Liverpool’s hierarchy, the problem is more brutal in financial terms. The six players carry a combined estimated market value of around £74 million, according to transfermarkt. Let those deals run down and that figure doesn’t just shrink. It vanishes.
A recurring Liverpool flaw
This is not a new story at Anfield. It has become a pattern.
Too many players have been allowed to drift towards the end of their contracts. Values erode. Negotiating power swings decisively towards the dressing room. The club ends up with two bad choices: sell for a reduced fee late in the process, or watch them walk away for nothing.
The warning signs flashed brightly last season. The futures of Van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold hovered over the campaign, an ongoing subplot that refused to go away. It distracted. It irritated. It unsettled.
In the end, only Alexander-Arnold left in the summer of 2025, a departure that sparked fury among the Anfield crowd. Liverpool at least clawed back a fee because Real Madrid moved early, rather than waiting for him to become a free agent. It was something, but it wasn’t enough to quiet the sense of mismanagement.
Salah and Van Dijk eventually signed short-term extensions, but those negotiations told their own story. The leverage sat squarely with the players, who dictated terms from a position of strength. Liverpool, boxed in by time and circumstance, had little room to manoeuvre.
Now the club stands on the brink of a similar scenario again, this time with a new manager trying to lay foundations on shifting contractual sand.
Iraola’s first major test
Iraola’s arrival was meant to signal a fresh start after Slot’s abrupt end, a sacking that followed a miserable second season just a year after a Premier League title. Instead, the Spaniard must immediately confront a structural flaw that predates him.
Every decision he makes this summer will carry a double weight. It’s not just about who fits his system, or who can deliver in the short term. It’s about who Liverpool can afford to lose, and who they dare to risk losing for nothing.
Van Dijk is the captain and defensive leader. Alisson remains one of the world’s elite goalkeepers. Gomez offers versatility. Jones, Endo and Bajcetic each bring something different to the midfield mix, from experience to potential. None of these choices are simple. All of them are expensive, one way or another.
Iraola will have to sit down with the Anfield hierarchy and draw clear lines. Who forms the core of his project and must be tied down, even at a premium? Who, however painful it may be, should be sold now while their value still exists on a balance sheet rather than as a memory?
Liverpool have already paid a heavy price for letting contracts drift. If they repeat the same mistake with this group, the cost won’t just be measured in lost fees. It will be measured in leadership, stability, and the time Iraola thought he had to build something new.
