Liverpool's Contract Drift: Iraola Faces Immediate Dilemma

Andoni Iraola hasn’t even taken charge of a game at Anfield, yet one of Liverpool’s most persistent modern problems is already waiting for him at the door.

Contract drift. Again.

The Basque coach, appointed on a two-year deal after an impressive three-year spell at Bournemouth, steps into the job in the wake of Arne Slot’s abrupt sacking following a dismal title defence. The football will change, the face in the dugout has changed, but behind the scenes the same old storm is gathering.

Ibrahima Konaté has already gone. One of Slot’s first-choice defenders, a mainstay when fit, has walked away on a free. Liverpool confirmed last week that the French centre-back would leave at the end of his deal this summer after negotiations collapsed. Konaté then took to social media to make it official: his Anfield career was over.

For Iraola, that’s just the first tremor.

Six key deals ticking down

Over the next 12 months, six more first‑team players are on course to reach the same cliff edge. Unless Liverpool move decisively, they will all be able to leave for nothing next summer.

• Virgil van Dijk.
• Alisson Becker.
• Joe Gomez.
• Curtis Jones.
• Wataru Endo.
• Stefan Bajcetic.

That list isn’t fringe players and academy hopefuls. It includes the captain, the goalkeeper who underpinned a title-winning side, the club’s most versatile defender, a homegrown midfielder, an experienced holding player and a highly rated youngster. Together, their current combined transfer value sits at around £74 million, according to transfermarkt.

Allow those contracts to run down, and that figure evaporates. No fee. No leverage. Just a gaping hole where assets used to be.

For Iraola, it creates an immediate dilemma. He must build a new Liverpool, reshape a squad in his image, and yet he cannot be sure how many of these pillars will still be standing beyond the next season. Every team selection, every tactical tweak, carries an extra layer of calculation: is this a player to build around, or a player to cash in on?

A lesson Liverpool keep ignoring

This isn’t a one-off misstep. It’s a pattern.

Liverpool have allowed too many players to drift into the final year of their contracts, their market value crumbling with each passing month. Once a deal enters its last stretch, the club’s negotiating position weakens, rival clubs circle, and the player’s camp gains control. The result is familiar: reduced fees, or no fee at all.

The warning signs flashed bright last season. The futures of Van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold hung over the campaign, turning what should have been routine press conferences into weekly contract briefings. It became a distraction the team could have done without.

In the end, only Alexander-Arnold left in the summer of 2025, heading to Real Madrid before his contract expired. Liverpool at least clawed back a modest fee because the deal was done before he hit free agency, but the sense around Anfield was one of anger and regret. A generational talent gone, and the club scrambling to salvage value that should never have been at risk in the first place.

Salah and Van Dijk eventually signed short-term extensions, but those negotiations underlined the power shift. With time on their side, the players dictated terms. Liverpool reacted. They did not lead.

Now Iraola inherits a similar scenario. Van Dijk’s name is back on the list, joined by Alisson and a cluster of others whose contractual clocks are ticking just as loudly.

Iraola’s first real test

On the pitch, Iraola will be judged on pressing triggers, defensive structure and how quickly he can inject his brand of high-energy football into a squad still bearing the imprint of Jürgen Klopp and then Slot. Off it, his first major test may be far more pragmatic: who stays, who goes, and when.

He cannot solve this alone. The key decisions will be taken in tandem with Liverpool’s hierarchy, who must finally prove they have learned from recent missteps. Do they cash in on big names now, banking fees and backing Iraola to rebuild? Or do they double down on experience, risk losing serious value, and hope short-term stability outweighs long-term cost?

Every route carries risk. Every delay increases it.

What’s clear is that Liverpool can no longer drift into another season with six major contracts hanging over the squad. The club has already watched one first-choice defender walk away for nothing. Iraola’s Liverpool era is only just beginning, but the clock on his core players is already deep into stoppage time.