Iraola Excludes Chiesa and Endo from Liverpool's Champions League Squad

Andoni Iraola has wasted no time laying down the law at Liverpool. Before a ball has even been kicked in Europe under his watch, two big names have been pushed to the fringes.

Federico Chiesa and Wataru Endo have both been left out of Liverpool’s 25-man Champions League squad for the 2026-27 campaign, a ruthless early decision that underlines exactly where they sit in the new manager’s plans.

The list, submitted ahead of Liverpool’s opener against Atletico Madrid at Anfield on September 9, complies with UEFA rules that cap non-locally trained players on List A at 17. Those slots are gold dust. Iraola has chosen to spend them elsewhere.

Big fees, big calls

£123 million signing Bradley Barcola is in. So is fellow summer recruit Victor Munoz. Even Hugo Ekitike, currently sidelined with injury, has been handed a place.

Chiesa and Endo have not.

In cold regulatory terms, it’s a numbers game. In football terms, it’s a statement. Iraola has nailed his colours to a new core, and two experienced internationals have slipped out of the European picture.

Carragher: “They’re never going to kick a ball”

Jamie Carragher didn’t sugar-coat it. Speaking on The Overlap, the former Liverpool defender delivered a stark verdict on the pair’s status under Iraola.

“Liverpool have got two players in the squad who are never going to play,” he said. “And there are all these quotas, you can only have 17 players and all that. They have got Chiesa and Endo. It’s like they are never going to kick a ball.”

He went even harder on the decision to keep Endo around this summer.

“Endo should have been moved on,” Carragher added. “He has done great, a bit of a cult hero.”

The message is clear: sentiment has no place in Iraola’s rebuild.

Roles shrinking, futures clouded

Both players remain tied down long term — Endo until 2027, Chiesa until 2028 — but their trajectories on Merseyside have been heading in the wrong direction.

Endo’s influence faded sharply last season. He managed just eight Premier League appearances and featured only once in the Champions League. From early fan favourite to late-season afterthought, his slide has now been underlined by his absence from the European squad.

Chiesa’s Liverpool story has barely got going. The 28-year-old has been repeatedly held back by fitness problems, and he is again nursing a muscle injury. This one is not viewed as a major, long-term issue, yet that hasn’t swayed the manager.

Iraola has chosen to register long-term absentees such as Conor Bradley and Giovanni Leoni instead of a Chiesa who is edging closer to fitness. For a player of his pedigree, that is a brutal reality check. It screams one thing: he is on the outside looking in.

Europe closes its doors… for now

Liverpool’s immediate focus is domestic. Ipswich Town visit Anfield on Friday, a league fixture that must be navigated before the club turns fully towards the Champions League and that opening test against Atletico Madrid.

The European schedule is unforgiving. Inter away. Fenerbahce away. A league phase that offers little room for passengers and even less for compromise.

Chiesa and Endo will watch it unfold from the sidelines, their involvement restricted to domestic cup ties unless disaster strikes Iraola’s squad. Only a severe injury crisis would open the door for a permitted alteration to the Champions League list later in the campaign.

For now, their continental ambitions are parked. Iraola has drawn his line. The question is not whether Chiesa and Endo can force their way into Europe this season.

It’s whether they still have a future at Liverpool at all.