Liverpool look set to take a risk and ignore Andoni Iraola’s transfer wishes on deadline day

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Andoni Iraola has not been shy in declaring that Liverpool’s squad is not quite ready to take on the challenge of a new season.The Basque has been questioned several times about his team’s transfer business since his first interview as Liverpool’s head coach in July, and has always come out with the same message: ‘we need more players.’Most recently, on August 21st, Iraola told Jamie Carragher that the Liverpool squad was ‘thin’ and that he hoped the Reds would sign more than one player before the deadline passed. The Frenchman has joined in a whopping £123m move from PSG Photo Credit: Getty Images/Liverpool FC However, with only Bradley Barcola added in the 10 days since, and with Liverpool looking unlikely to do any further business on transfer deadline day, Richard Hughes and the recruitment team look set to leave Iraola with a squad that he knows is not deep enough.Iraola wanted more players at LiverpoolWhen Iraola first faced the press as Arne Slot’s replacement in mid-July, he sounded positive about the prospect of more signings arriving.“Obviously we’ve signed two players already [Jeremy Jacquet and Victor Munoz], but we need more players, we know this,” he said.

“The club is working on more players, we know this. I know the club is working hard to get those signings and I’m trying obviously to help also.”READ MORE: Liverpool now have two candidates to be their starting right winger this season heading into deadline daySince then, Liverpool have signed only Ronald Araujo on loan and Barcola, while Iraola’s words to Carragher 10 days ago were an even clearer sign that the Spaniard will not be best pleased about what has transpired in the market heading towards deadline day.“We will definitely sign players, yes yes,” Iraola said, before adding, crucially: “And I hope more than one.”“Me as a coach, selfishly, I want the players for the first day of pre-season, so everyone is ready to go and we can make the mistakes in pre-season.” he continued.“But also I understand how this works, some deals you have to wait until the end.

And I hope, because it’s true that we are still quite thin, we can have more help from now until the end of the market.”Photo by Nikki Dyer/Liverpool FC via Getty ImagesWith a deal for Barcola already well in the works, it is hard to believe that this was the only thing Iraola had in mind.The Reds can dress it up whichever way they want, and it will be interesting to see if there is any kind of spin put on what has ended up being an incredibly poor summer window.But Iraola’s words show the truth of what was internally felt at Liverpool. They all know that they do not have enough quality players, and they have not done anything like enough to put that right.The new boss may have played some part in that himself, but it feels much more likely that this risk is of Hughes and his team’s making, and it is a really big one.