Liverpool's Defensive Dilemma: Araujo's Arrival and Injuries
Andoni Iraola hasn’t kicked a ball in the Premier League as Liverpool head coach yet, and already he’s staring at a problem his predecessors knew only too well.
Two weeks out from the new season, Liverpool look undercooked. The search for a Mohamed Salah successor on the right wing drags on, with Bradley Barcola and Ibrahim Mbaye still targets rather than teammates. Rio Ngumoha and Federico Chiesa can cover that flank if needed, but the real anxiety sits 30 yards further back.
Araujo arrives into a storm
Before Ronald Araujo’s move from Barcelona gathered pace, Liverpool were bracing themselves for a remarkable scenario: just one fit senior centre-back available for the opening game at Newcastle.
Joe Gomez is already ruled out. Giovanni Leoni, the bright hope of last season before his ACL injury, hasn’t yet returned to full training. Jeremy Jacquet, who reported for pre-season early, still hasn’t played a single minute this summer.
There are doubts over whether the Frenchman will even feature against Monaco at Anfield. If he misses that, the most optimistic reading is a 45‑minute run-out against Como next weekend. That would be a gentle introduction in normal circumstances; it is anything but gentle when your next assignment is a first taste of the Premier League at St James’ Park.
So Iraola is left with one obvious short-term solution: protect Virgil van Dijk and Araujo at all costs. Wrap them in cotton wool, limit the risks, and hope that over the next fortnight they can build enough of an understanding to walk straight into the heart of the defence together.
A familiar crisis, this time self-inflicted
Injuries at the back are nothing new at Liverpool. Jürgen Klopp’s 2020/21 campaign was shredded by them. Arne Slot had to juggle them. Iraola has inherited them. Yet this version feels more avoidable.
Anyone glancing at Liverpool’s squad at the start of the summer could see the back four needed reinforcing. Araujo is a heavyweight arrival, but the timing and scramble around the deal carry the air of a stop-gap rather than the product of long-term planning.
Even with the Uruguayan on board, Liverpool remain one injury away from another makeshift solution in one of the most important areas of the pitch. One awkward landing for Van Dijk or Araujo, and Iraola will be rifling through the squad list for emergency centre-backs.
Slot’s blueprint for improvisation
Slot faced his own defensive headache last season. Leoni’s serious injury in September left Liverpool with only three recognised centre-backs for the rest of the campaign. Given Gomez’s fragile fitness record and Ibrahima Konaté’s patchy availability, that was a tightrope.
The Dutchman barely blinked.
“Ryan (Gravenberch) and Wata (Endo) can play there,” Slot said early in the season, matter-of-fact and unapologetic. “So it is not like all of a sudden we don't have options in that position anymore.”
Endo’s ability to drop into the back line is no secret. Across his three years at Anfield he has stepped in at centre-back when required and handled it with typical calm. The issue this time is his own fitness: he has only just returned to training after injury. Throwing him into a Premier League opener at Newcastle, in an unfamiliar role, would be a serious ask.
If he isn’t ready, the next man up is likely Gravenberch. The Dutch midfielder has dabbled at centre-back before, but the sample size is tiny. His most notable outing there came in the 6-0 win over Qarabag in January, a night when Liverpool barely broke sweat. You cannot judge a defender on a game that felt like a training exercise.
Yet those are the contours of Iraola’s reality. If Van Dijk or Araujo suffer even a minor setback, Liverpool’s new head coach could walk into St James’ Park with a converted midfielder anchoring his defence.
No margin for error
Strip it back and the picture is stark. Araujo has not even pulled on the shirt yet and already feels indispensable. Van Dijk, at 35, remains the pillar everything leans on. Behind them, a recovering Leoni, an untested Jacquet, an injured Gomez and a pair of emergency midfield centre-backs.
For a club with Liverpool’s ambitions, it is a fragile way to start a season.
Iraola will talk up flexibility. He will point to Endo’s intelligence, Gravenberch’s athleticism, the promise of Leoni, the potential of Jacquet. But when the team sheet goes up in the away dressing room at Newcastle, nobody inside that room will want to see a midfielder’s name at centre-back.
For now, the equation is brutally simple: Van Dijk must stay fit. Araujo must hit the ground running. And Liverpool, once again, are gambling that a defence patched together in August can survive long enough for the rest of the season to take shape.
