Liverpool's 2026/27 Squad Plans: Key Changes and Youth Focus

Andoni Iraola has barely started his Liverpool reign, but the outlines of his 2026/27 squad are already being drawn in permanent ink. Big names edging towards the exit. Teenagers barging their way to the front of the queue. Contracts, clauses and quiet decisions that will reshape Anfield long before the first ball of that season is kicked.

At the heart of it all sits one of the most telling stories of the autumn: Wataru Endo.

Endo on the Edge

Endo watched Liverpool’s Carabao Cup win over Tottenham from the bench, unused and increasingly unwanted. He has not played a single minute under Iraola. He was left out of the Champions League squad. His deal runs out at the end of the season.

For a 33-year-old who arrived as a stopgap and became a cult figure, this feels like the final act.

Iraola has been polite, but blunt.

“Wata lost quite a lot of the pre-season,” he explained. “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.”

That “problem” has a very real face. Against Spurs, Trey Nyoni and James McConnell both started ahead of Endo in midfield, alongside Alexis Mac Allister. When Iraola turned to his bench, it was Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch who got the nod. The veteran never moved.

Endo already found minutes hard to come by under Arne Slot. Under Iraola, with Liverpool tilting towards youth, the writing is even clearer. He turns 34 in February and is currently heading for a free transfer. Reports suggest Liverpool could cash in as early as January to bank a final fee. Either way, the road almost certainly ends here.

And he is far from alone.

Contract Clock Ticking for Major Names

As things stand, Virgil van Dijk, Alisson Becker, Joe Gomez and Kostas Tsimikas are all out of contract next summer. On paper, they are walking away for nothing, joining Endo and back-up goalkeeper Harvey Davies in a sizeable group of potential free agents.

There is still time for new deals to be offered. There usually is with players of that stature. But the possibility remains stark: the captain, the goalkeeper who helped redefine the club’s modern era, a long-serving defender and a trusted deputy left-back could all be gone in one sweep.

Ronald Araujo’s situation is clearer. His season-long loan from Barcelona will expire, but Liverpool hold a £47m purchase option on the Uruguay international. If they trigger it, he becomes a cornerstone of the next back line. If not, another non-homegrown slot opens up.

And while the immediate focus is on expiring contracts, the club has already been working ahead of schedule.

Deals Already Done for 2027

Liverpool’s recruitment department has pushed three early chips onto the 2027 table.

• Djylian N’Guessan will officially become a Liverpool player in January after a €5m agreement with Saint-Etienne. The 18-year-old forward is spending this season on loan at Stade Brest and is expected to finish the campaign in Ligue 1 before actually arriving at Anfield, even though the paperwork makes him a Red from January.
• Between the posts, Lucca Brughmans is lined up. Liverpool have struck a £30m deal with KRC Genk for the teenage Belgian goalkeeper. The plan is for him to complete the season in Belgium, but the club do have the option to bring him in early in January if they choose.
• Samuel Martinez is next in the queue. The Colombian playmaker will join from Atletico Nacional in a £750,000 move once he turns 18 next year.

There is also a major defensive clause waiting in the background. 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 if the Reds decide to pull that trigger.

The future is being assembled piece by piece, even while the present is still playing itself out.

Loan Army Heading Home

The picture gets busier when the loanees step back into view.

• Harvey Elliott is due back next summer after a season at Valencia. His contract runs until 2028, and he looks primed to return as a central figure rather than a fringe option.
• Ifeanyi Ndukwe, on loan at Levante, has now played enough to qualify for a work permit in England. Liverpool can recall the Austrian in January or let him see out the campaign in La Liga before bringing him to Merseyside.
• Armin Pecsi and Kieran Morrison are also scheduled to return from TSV Hartberg and Sheffield Wednesday respectively. Calvin Ramsay will not be joining them; his temporary stint at St Mirren runs alongside the final year of his Liverpool deal, which means he will move on as a free agent.
• Calum Scanlon and Keyrol Figueroa are spending the season at Cardiff City and Port Vale. Amara Nallo, Kornel Misciur and Kyle Kelly are out until the new year with HJK, Leek Town and Forest Green Rovers.
• Fabian Mrozek is with FC Cincinnati, and the MLS club hold an option to sign the Polish goalkeeper permanently. If they exercise it, one more name quietly drops off the Anfield books.

These aren’t just names on a spreadsheet. They are the moving parts that will decide who actually fills out the training pitches at Kirkby next summer.

Kids Who No Longer Count as Kids

From next season, any player born before January 1, 2006 must be fully registered in Liverpool’s Premier League and European squads if they are to feature.

That means Jeremy Jacquet, Lewis Koumas, Pecsi and Michael Laffey all lose their Under-21 exemption. The same goes for Scanlon and Kelly. They now occupy “grown-up” spaces in the squad lists.

It sounds bureaucratic, but it matters. Every slot taken by a maturing youngster is one less for a big-money signing. And that brings the homegrown puzzle into sharp focus.

The Homegrown Core

Looking ahead to 2026/27, Liverpool already know which homegrown players are on the books and eligible.

• Conor Bradley, Elliott, McConnell, Koumas, Vitezslav Jaros, Freddie Woodman and Jeremie Frimpong are all contracted 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 at the club.

As it stands, Gomez and Davies are heading for free agency. Transfermarkt also lists Chambers and Gordon as out of contract next summer, which would cut into that homegrown depth if they are not extended.

Every renewal, every release, shifts the balance of what Iraola can do when he submits his lists to the Premier League and UEFA.

Non-Homegrown Squeeze

Right now, Liverpool already fill all 17 non-homegrown slots for the 2026/27 season. That logjam should ease next summer if Van Dijk, Alisson, Endo and Tsimikas all depart at the end of their deals.

If Araujo is not signed permanently and returns to Barcelona, another space opens up.

Then there are the likely movers. Federico Chiesa’s situation looks precarious. His contract runs until 2028, but he has never been more than a fringe figure at Anfield. A parting of ways would hardly shock anyone.

Alexis Mac Allister’s future is clouded too. The Argentina international has spoken publicly about being told the club are not currently in a position to offer him a new contract. That kind of admission rarely quietens speculation.

Cody Gakpo’s name will be back in the rumour mill after he almost left in the summer amid interest from Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City. Giorgi Mamardashvili has also been linked with a move away.

Ndukwe and Brughmans, by contrast, will still be Under-21s and won’t need to be registered for Premier League duty. For Europe, it is different. Neither qualifies for List B, so if Liverpool want them in continental competition, they must occupy non-homegrown slots.

Strip away the guesswork and keep it simple: assume only the out-of-contract players leave and Araujo is signed permanently. In that scenario, Liverpool would have 15 senior non-homegrown players, with Jacquet and Pecsi no longer classed as Under-21s.

That would leave two open berths in the European squad. Ndukwe and Brughmans could, in theory, fill them.

Of course, reality rarely stays that neat. There will be sales, bids, new arrivals and sudden opportunities. There always are.

The Skeleton of a 2026/27 Squad

For now, here is how Liverpool’s 2026/27 squad could shape up, on paper, if those basic assumptions hold.

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

It is only a snapshot, frozen in September with a full season and another transfer window still to come. But the direction is clear.

Liverpool are edging towards a younger, leaner, more aggressively constructed squad, with academy products and smart early deals stitched around a few heavyweight names.

The question is not whether Iraola’s 2026/27 Liverpool will look different.

It is how ruthless the club is prepared to be to get there.