Liverpool look to open the Andoni Iraola Era at Anfield in a few hours with a pre-season friendly against AS Monaco and most Reds fans are likely a mix of shades of eager and anxious. Eager because each day we get closer to the season means we get to revel – and commiserate – in the wild rollercoaster ride that is the Premier League season. Anxious because the club look nowhere near the finished article in terms of the roster.
Even allowing for the shock and shrewd loan-to-buy move for center-back
Ronald Araujo from Barcelona, Liverpool’s roster looks frighteningly thin ahead of the season. Araujo helps with depth given that the Reds are still waiting for firm timetables on the return of both Jeremy Jacquet and Giovanni Leoni, with the Uruguayan also providing some cover at right-back with Connor Bradley still out and Joe Gomez having injured himself early in pre-season.
The holes elsewhere, though, are a bit more glaring. Alexander Isak is back, but Hugo Ekitike will miss a large chunk of the year, which means depth at striker is quite thin. In terms of the wings, there’s no clear successor for Mohamed Salah on the right, and only rumors as to what the Reds might do in terms of the left. Richard Hughes’ pursuit of Yan Diomande early and now Bradley Barcola is meant to address some of that and to provide strong quality on either side, but nothing has fully materialized.
To that end, some LFC supporters can’t be faulted for looking at the academy with hope and urgency for who might be emerging as the next potential player to breakthrough. Rio Ngumoha came through last year (though, there’s a quibble with respect to the fact that the star prospect was actually recruited from the Chelsea academy) and became a standard part of the club’s rotation of players.
For folks hoping for help on the right-side of the pitch, the name most bandied about has been Joshua Abe. The young winger has spent his entire developmental period with Liverpool, having joined the Academy at four years-old. And as a 15 year old, couldn’t stop scoring for the U18s.
Now, Abe is firmly ensconced in the U21s and is listed among the top of Liverpool’s group of emerging stars. On Saturday, Abe managed to further grow his reputation as he provided a goal in the U21’s draw with Huddersfield. Left-footed and clearly built to attack, Abe is likely a sight for sore eyes as the club has often wondered who might be come through the doors as the next Academy product.
Fans will also be hopeful that the likes of Trey Nyoni, a returning Harvey Elliott, and the successful recoveries for both Stefan Bajcetic and Jayden Danns might finally bring back that good pipeline between the youth and the first team. It was a short time, but it did feel like Arne Slot did not find as much trust in the abilities and quality of the youth, even allowing the generally regular usage of Rio (there’s an argument that the Dutchman might have called upon the young attacker more often).
Andoni, though, has a reputation of coaching up young players and helping them take the next step. Here’s hoping that emerges as I’d like nothing more than to see Liverpool capitalize on what is broadly considered a high-quality academy program. Watching the likes of Nyoni and James McConnell begin to etch themselves into fringe of the first-team and, hopefully, Iraola being able to make something of Elliott would really be a means of turning what feels like a thin squad into something a bit more robust.
All this to say: I can’t wait for August 23rd.
