news-engine

← liverpool

Iraola confirms special role for £300k-a-week LFC star: He’s going to be unhappy about it

live4liverpool.com · Michael Mongie · 2026-09-03T14:53:17+00:00 · nguồn gốc

Andoni Iraola has confirmed that Liverpool will occasionally use Dominik Szoboszlai at right-back after the club failed to address the issue in the transfer market. Last season, Arne Slot used Dominik Szoboszlai at right-back over 10 times, with varying degrees of success. In just the second game of the 2026/27 season, Iraola had to shift Szoboszlai to right-back because Jeremie Frimpong’s performance was so bad. The Spaniard has now confirmed that Liverpool will have to use the Hungarian at right-back this season, despite the club’s boardroom executives having three months to solve the problem for their new manager. Speaking at his press conference to preview Liverpool’s third Premier League game of the season, a trip to Ipswich, Iraola confirmed that we will see Szoboszlai at right-back when the need calls for it. Iraola said: “Challenge in the squad now is we don’t have Conor Bradley there at right-back. That’s why I value Dom [Szoboszlai] at right-back as he can play there. Versatility in the player helps us go through the moments when we have injuries. “In midfield we have good numbers. Now it’s a matter of getting the right calls from myself. I’m finding now the best combinations and we are going through a period now where we will play a lot of games and we’ll have a chance to see the options we have and the combinations we have. It’s a matter of coaching.” ? Andoni Iraola on right-back and midfield cover: “Challenge in the squad now is we don't have Conor Bradley there at right-back. That's why I value Dom [Szoboszlai] at right-back as he can play there. Versatility in the player helps us go through the moments when we have… pic.twitter.com/JCmdgDG2zk — Anfield Sector (@AnfieldSector) September 3, 2026 Richard Hughes, who has just vacated his role as sporting director, and FSG in general have hamstrung Iraola. They signed the Spaniard to replace Slot and have left him with a skeleton staff of a squad expecting miracles. It’s fantastic that they signed Bradley Barcola, but they have completely failed to address the major problems this squad had at the end of last season, even before Mohamed Salah, Andy Robertson and Ibrahima Konate left for free. Then Curtis Jones left and wasn’t replaced, despite agents begging Liverpool to sign Lamine Camara. Paul Joyce reports that Liverpool’s transfer policy is such that “the view that signing Barcola will make more of a difference moving forward than splitting his fee up, for example, and signing a £40m squad player to fill in until Bradley is fit again.” However, I don’t buy this argument. [?] INFO: Liverpool’s transfer policy is shaped by the view that signing Barcola will make more of a difference moving forward than splitting his fee up, for example, and signing a £40m squad player to fill in until Bradley is fit again. — Anfield Sector (@AnfieldSector) September 3, 2026 Liverpool cannot rely on Conor Bradley. His injury history for the Reds is genuinely concerning. Only seven times has the fullback played 90-minute matches for the club. Even then, they’ve not come consecutively. Overall, Bradley has suffered nine separate injuries, been sidelined for 533 days total and missed 85 games for Liverpool. I hate to say it, but the young defender is unreliable and Liverpool have risked a lot hoping he will return to full fitness and form this season, when he’s never done it before. Beyond the transfer negligence, it’s just unfair to Szoboszlai unless he actually agreed to it this summer. Liverpool have just renewed the Hungarian’s contract, increasing his pay to a reported £300,000-a-week, but I highly doubt he would have expected to play at right-back again this season.