Iraola's Contract Challenge at Liverpool: Key Players in Final Year

Andoni Iraola hasn’t even taken charge of a Liverpool training session, yet the clock is already ticking loudly over his first major test. Not tactics. Not style. Contracts.

The Basque coach arrived at Anfield on a two-year deal after three impressive seasons at Bournemouth, stepping in after Arne Slot’s reign unravelled so quickly and so brutally in his second year that his earlier Premier League title felt like a distant echo. Iraola inherits a dressing room still shaped by that boom-and-bust cycle – and a board that has once again allowed the squad’s core to drift towards the exit.

One key defender has already gone. Ibrahima Konate, a mainstay under Slot, walked away as a free agent this summer after talks over a new contract collapsed. Liverpool confirmed his departure at the end of his deal; Konate then drew a line under his Anfield spell on social media. No fee. No leverage. Just a starting centre-back gone for nothing.

The worry for Iraola is that Konate may be the first of many.

A core in the final year

Six more first‑team players are now inside the final 12 months of their contracts. Not fringe names. Not kids on the edge of the squad. The list cuts right through the spine of the team:

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

If none of them sign fresh terms, all six can walk away for free next summer.

For any new manager, that is a nightmare scenario. Iraola must try to build a long‑term project while not knowing how long his leaders, his goalkeeper, his defensive options and two of his midfielders will actually be around. Every team talk, every tactical tweak, sits on top of that uncertainty.

From the club’s perspective, the numbers sting as well as the symbolism. The combined transfer value of that group is estimated at around £74 million. Letting that kind of value disappear for nothing would be a brutal hit for a club that prides itself on smart squad building and shrewd trading.

Yet this is not a new story at Liverpool. It is a pattern.

A recurring problem Liverpool can’t shake

Over recent seasons, Anfield has become a place where too many contracts are allowed to run down. Players edge towards the final year, their market value slides, and the club loses the chance to sell at the right time. The outcome is always the same: either accept a cut‑price fee late in the day or watch a player leave for nothing.

Last year offered the clearest warning. The futures of Van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold hovered over the campaign like a cloud. All three drifted into prolonged uncertainty. It became a talking point, then a distraction, then a source of genuine unrest among supporters.

In the end, only Alexander-Arnold left in the summer of 2025, a departure that sparked fury on the Kop. Liverpool at least clawed back a modest fee because his move to Real Madrid was completed before he hit full free agency. The anger wasn’t about the money. It was about how a homegrown symbol of the club had been allowed to reach that point at all.

Salah and Van Dijk eventually signed short-term extensions, but the power dynamic was obvious. With the clock on their side, they dictated the terms. The club had little choice but to bend. That same imbalance now hangs over the six players entering their final year under Iraola.

Iraola’s first big battle

So the new manager walks into a dressing room where several of his most important figures can see the finish line. Every good performance strengthens their hand. Every delay weakens the club’s.

Iraola’s footballing ideas will matter, of course. His high-energy, front-foot approach at Bournemouth earned him this chance. But his early weeks at Liverpool may be defined less by pressing triggers and more by boardroom conversations.

Which players does he want to build around for the next cycle? Who is essential to his system? Who can be sold now, while there is still a fee to be had, without ripping the heart out of the squad?

There is risk on both sides. Keep everyone, and Liverpool may lose a chunk of their core for nothing in a year. Cash in too aggressively, and Iraola’s first season could be spent trying to steady a squad stripped of experience and leadership.

This is the familiar issue now staring Liverpool in the face again. The difference this time is that a new manager must solve a problem he did not create.

For Iraola, the message is clear: decide quickly, act decisively, or watch the spine of his Liverpool project walk away for free.