Liverpool's 2026/27 Squad: Major Changes Ahead

Andoni Iraola has barely settled into the Liverpool dugout, but the shape of his squad for 2026/27 is already being pulled in several directions at once. Contracts running down, kids breaking through, loanees circling back, and three future signings already locked in. The Liverpool you see now will not be the Liverpool that walks out at Anfield in a year’s time.

And one of the clearest signs of that shift is Wataru Endo.

Endo on the Outside

Endo did not kick a ball in the Carabao Cup win over Tottenham Hotspur. He watched from the bench as Trey Nyoni and James McConnell started ahead of him, Alexis Mac Allister completed the midfield trio, and Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch came on before him too.

For a 33-year-old with his experience, that is a loud message.

He has yet to play a single minute under Iraola and was left out of Liverpool’s Champions League squad at the start of the month. His deal runs out at the end of the season. The writing is there in big letters.

Iraola has tried to soften the edges publicly, but the reality is stark.

“Wata lost quite a lot of the pre-season,” the head coach said last week. “He is still not at his best but he is training very well. The problem is in front of him in his position I have a lot of players. He is competing against a lot of players. We are giving minutes to Trey, Ryan, Alexis and Dom, players that I am selecting right now. But Wata is definitely a player that I like and for sure he will have his moments.”

The pecking order tells its own story. Just as Lewis Koumas has surged ahead of Federico Chiesa in attack, the club’s young midfielders are being trusted over a veteran whose contract is ticking down.

Endo turns 34 in February. As it stands, he will leave on a free in the summer. Recent reports suggest Liverpool could instead cash in during January, taking one last chance at a fee. Either way, every sign points in the same direction: out.

And he is far from alone.

Heavyweights Heading for the Exit?

Right now, some of the biggest names at Anfield are technically in their final Liverpool season.

Virgil van Dijk, Alisson Becker, Joe Gomez and Kostas Tsimikas are all out of contract next summer, alongside Endo. Back-up goalkeeper Harvey Davies is also listed as expiring, according to Transfermarkt.

That does not guarantee a mass exodus. Any of them could be offered new terms. But on paper, Iraola’s 2026/27 squad is currently being drawn without them.

Ronald Araujo’s situation is different again. His season-long loan from Barcelona ends next summer, but Liverpool hold a £47m purchase option for the Uruguay international. Keep him, and one major defensive piece is secured. Let him go, and another senior slot opens up.

All of this is happening while the club has already quietly banked three deals for 2027.

Future Arrivals Already Agreed

Liverpool are not waiting for the summer to start shaping what comes next.

Djylian N’Guessan will officially become a Liverpool player in January after the club struck a €5m agreement with Saint-Etienne for the forward. The twist? The 18-year-old is on loan at Stade Brest and is expected to stay there until the end of the season, even though his registration will switch to Anfield mid-campaign.

Lucca Brughmans is also on the way. Liverpool have agreed a £30m deal with KRC Genk for the Belgian goalkeeper. He is currently set to finish the season in Belgium, but the club do have an option to bring the teenager in early in January if they choose.

Then there is Samuel Martinez. The Colombian playmaker will join from Atletico Nacional next year in a £750,000 move, once he turns 18.

There is a longer-term defensive wrinkle too. Liverpool hold a £55m option to re-sign Jarell Quansah from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer of 2027. The ECHO understands the England centre-half has already agreed personal terms on an Anfield contract, should the Reds trigger that clause.

The future is being plotted in layers: kids bought early, options banked, pathways mapped. And around them, the loan army turns.

The Loan Carousel Spins Back

Some familiar faces will be back through the door next summer.

Harvey Elliott is due to return from a season-long loan at Valencia, his current Liverpool deal running until 2028. He remains a central piece of the club’s homegrown core.

Ifeanyi Ndukwe, on loan at Levante, has now made his debut and is eligible for a work permit in England. Liverpool could recall the Austrian in January, or leave him to complete his La Liga campaign before bringing him to Merseyside.

Armin Pecsi and Kieran Morrison will also return from TSV Hartberg and Sheffield Wednesday respectively. Calvin Ramsay, by contrast, will be gone. His temporary stint at St Mirren overlaps with the final year of his Liverpool contract, and he will leave as a free agent.

Elsewhere, Calum Scanlon and Keyrol Figueroa are on season-long loans at Cardiff City and Port Vale. Amara Nallo, Kornel Misciur and Kyle Kelly are with HJK, Leek Town and Forest Green Rovers until the new year.

Goalkeeper Fabian Mrozek is at FC Cincinnati, where the MLS side hold an option to sign him permanently. That decision will shape Liverpool’s goalkeeping depth chart for 2026/27.

Just as that group returns, another line is drawn through the academy.

Kids Become Senior Overnight

From next season, any Liverpool player born before January 1, 2006 will have to be registered in Premier League and European squads to play. No more hiding in the Under-21 bracket.

Jeremy Jacquet, Lewis Koumas, Pecsi and Michael Laffey will all lose their Under-21 status. The same applies to Scanlon and Kelly. They will either claim full squad berths or find themselves squeezed out.

That matters because of homegrown rules and non-homegrown limits.

Homegrown Core Taking Shape

Liverpool’s homegrown group for 2026/27 already has a solid spine.

Conor Bradley, Elliott, McConnell, Koumas, Vitezslav Jaros, Freddie Woodman and Jeremie Frimpong are all contracted to the club next season and would count towards the homegrown quota. The first five qualify as club-trained for European competition, with Woodman and Frimpong classed as association-trained.

Luke Chambers, Scanlon, Kaide Gordon, Isaac Mabaya, Owen Beck, Laffey and Kelly would also need to be registered if they remain on the books.

Gomez and Davies, as things stand, leave as free agents. Transfermarkt also lists Chambers and Gordon as out of contract, which could thin that homegrown pool further unless new deals arrive.

Non-Homegrown Puzzle

On the non-homegrown side, Liverpool currently occupy all 17 slots for 2026/27. That will not last.

Van Dijk, Alisson, Endo and Tsimikas are all out of contract, freeing up four positions if they depart. If Araujo is not retained, his return to Barcelona would open another.

Chiesa is the obvious candidate to move on. His contract runs until 2028, but he has never been more than a fringe player at Anfield.

Questions hang over Mac Allister too. The Argentina international recently revealed the club had told him they were not currently in a position to offer him a new contract. That uncertainty will not go away quietly.

Cody Gakpo’s name will be back in the rumour mill as well. He almost left in the summer amid interest from Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City. That story is unlikely to be over.

Giorgi Mamardashvili has also been linked with a move away, adding another possible twist in goal.

Ndukwe and Brughmans, for now, would still count as Under-21s in Premier League terms and would not need to be registered domestically. For Europe, it is different. Neither is eligible for List B, so Liverpool would need to find space for them in the main European squad if Iraola wants to use them on the continental stage.

Strip the scenario back to the basics: assume all out-of-contract players leave and Araujo is signed permanently. In that case, Liverpool would have 15 senior non-homegrown players, with Jacquet and Pecsi no longer Under-21s.

Ndukwe and Brughmans could then slot into the final two non-homegrown berths in Europe. On paper, that works. In reality, the market will not sit still.

How the 2026/27 Squad Currently Lines Up

If nothing else changes – no surprise renewals, no big sales beyond the expiring deals, Araujo signed – this is roughly how Liverpool’s 2026/27 group shapes up:

Goalkeepers: Mamardashvili, Woodman (HG), Jaros (HG), Pecsi, Brughmans (U21)*.
Defenders: Jacquet, Kerkez, Bradley (HG), Leoni (U21), Frimpong (HG), Araujo, Scanlon (HG), Beck (HG), Ndukwe (U21)*.
Midfielders: Wirtz, Szoboszlai, Mac Allister, Elliott (HG), Gravenberch, Nyoni (U21), McConnell (HG).

It is a squad with youth everywhere you look, options baked into the structure, and big calls still looming on some of the club’s biggest names.

The next 12 months will decide whether Iraola walks into 2026/27 with a remodelled Liverpool built around that emerging core, or a very different version shaped by one more round of ruthless decisions.