Report: Iraola sets out his stall early with four-player shortlist to replace Liverpool stalwart

Andoni Iraola has reportedly prepared a transfer shortlist of four players as prospective replacements for one man who’s leaving Liverpool over the summer.

The market will open in a week’s time, and the Reds’ new head coach is sure to have a few targets in mind as to who he’d like to see added to his squad between then and the end of August.

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Two regular starters from the 2025/26 season will need replacing, with Mo Salah and Ibrahima Konate moving on, and the former Bournemouth boss seemingly has four names in mind to take the latter’s place in the starting XI.

Liverpool have four-man shortlist of potential Konate replacements

According to sources for CaughtOffside, Iraola and Liverpool are ‘planning seriously’ for long-term recruitment at centre-back and are seeking a ‘high-level replacement’ for the France international.

Goncalo Inacio of Sporting Lisbon continues to be strongly linked with a move to Anfield, with his comfort on the ball and his left-footed profile fitting neatly with the new head coach’s likely tactical blueprint and filling a void in the backline.

Anfield scouts have also been keeping a close watch on Luka Vuskovic (Tottenham Hotspur) and Murillo (Nottingham Forest), with the former excelling on loan at Hamburg in 2025/26 and the latter providing a readymade Premier League-proven option.

Sam Beukema of Napoli is also believed to be on Liverpool’s radar, but he ‘appears to be part of a wider shortlist rather than the clear priority’.

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Which of those would be most ideal for Liverpool?

In terms of numbers at centre-back, Jeremy Jacquet is coming in to effectively take Konate’s place, but the Reds could still do with a more proven recruit in that position who’s about to enter his prime footballing years.

Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez are coming into the last year of their respective contracts, while Jacquet and Giovanni Leoni are talented but raw and yet to play in the Premier League, and the latter will need time to get back up to speed after missing the best part of a year with an ACL injury.

Inacio’s name seems to crop up on the eve of every transfer window in recent years, but will this be the summer that he finally swaps Lisbon for Liverpool? At 24 and with plenty of high-level experience for Sporting (including 31 Champions League games), the time may be right for a move to England.

If Iraola wants someone who’s already shown they can excel in the Premier League, then Murillo would be the best of the four shortlisted targets. The Brazilian has put in some outstanding performances against the Reds over the past couple of seasons and is acclimatised to the physical demands of the division.

Either of those two would make for an excellent addition to our backline over the summer if sporting director Richard Hughes were to seek a direct replacement for Konate in the upcoming transfer window.