Iraola's Liverpool Rebuild: Jacquet and Ndukwe's Impact
Andoni Iraola has barely had time to move into his office at Kirkby, but two of the most intriguing players of his Liverpool reign are already waiting for him.
They are not his signings. They belong to the brief, turbulent Arne Slot era. Yet Jeremy Jacquet and Ifeanyi Ndukwe could help define what comes next.
Iraola walks into a rebuild
Unveiled on Thursday, five days after Slot’s dismissal, Iraola steps into an Anfield stripped of three pillars: Mohamed Salah, Andy Robertson and Ibrahima Konaté have gone. That is not a reshuffle; it is surgery on the spine of a title-chasing side.
The club expects a frantic summer. Iraola, fresh from his work at Bournemouth, will want his own players, his own profiles, his own pressing machines.
But when he blows the whistle on day one of pre-season, two new defenders will already be in red.
Jacquet: £60m, a repaired shoulder and a fast track
Jeremy Jacquet is the headline act. Signed from Rennes in January for £60million, the 20-year-old arrives with the kind of fee that ends any talk of “easing in”.
He is recovering from shoulder surgery yet is expected to be ready for pre-season, according to The Athletic. The timing could not be better for him, nor more necessary for Liverpool. Konaté’s departure rips a hole in the right side of the defence. Jacquet suddenly moves from “project” to “solution”.
Across Europe, scouts have tracked him as one of the most highly regarded young defenders on the market. Liverpool paid the premium that comes with that reputation. Jacquet knows exactly what that means.
“Promising young players command quite high prices and of course, that adds pressure: am I worth that price or not?” he told Ouest-France. “I think I have the minimum resources to go there. I'm going there to play as much as possible.”
There is no hint of hiding in those words. No talk of loans, no suggestion he sees Liverpool as a stepping stone. He chose the deep end.
“I won't say it was a quick one, because I took my time with this big step but I quickly saw myself at Liverpool,” he said. “I'll be 21 in July. For me, there's the sporting project and the personal project. At my age, I prioritise the sporting side. I'm focused on football.”
His agent laid out the crossroads: a mid-table club and a gentler route, or a leap straight into the elite.
“Initially, we were leaning towards a mid-table club,” Jacquet admitted. “But then I told him, ‘If the biggest clubs in Europe are interested, we're not going to turn them down. They're there for a reason.’ I spoke with the management; the club's history weighed heavily on my decision, but so did the project they offered me.”
That “project” now has a new architect. Jacquet signed under Slot. He will be moulded by Iraola.
Ndukwe: 6ft 6in and a World Cup stage
Alongside him, another defender is on the way. Ifeanyi Ndukwe, 18, joins from Austria Vienna and brings something you cannot coach: sheer scale. At 6ft 6in, he is a towering presence, but the interest around him is about far more than height.
Ndukwe caught the eye at the Under-17 World Cup, where he helped drive Austria all the way to the final. That tournament put him on the radar of clubs across Europe. Liverpool moved quickly.
His arrival fits a clear pattern. The club has pushed hard into the elite youth market, previously prising Trey Nyoni from Leicester City and Rio Ngumoha from Chelsea. Ndukwe is the latest bet that the next core of a title-challenging side can be grown, not just bought.
He will not be expected to carry the defence from day one. At 18, his pathway will likely be carefully managed. But in a summer when the senior back line is being reshaped, the presence of a high-ceiling prospect of his profile is no small detail.
A coach who trusts youth
If there is a manager suited to this sort of squad, it is Iraola. At Rayo Vallecano and Bournemouth he built reputations on intensity, structure and the courage to lean on young players when they were ready.
Liverpool’s hierarchy know that. They are arming him with talent that can grow with him.
The 43-year-old did not hide his excitement when he explained why he had chosen Anfield. “You don't need a lot of things to get attracted by Liverpool,” he told the club’s website. “Liverpool is Liverpool. But obviously the atmosphere, the supporters, the club, the players, the chance for me to coach top-level players, the chance to fight for titles. I think it cannot be more attractive than this. It's difficult to find it. So, really excited to start.”
Titles. Top-level players. For Iraola, Jacquet and Ndukwe are not just prospects; they are part of the answer to how Liverpool stay in that conversation after losing so much experience in one window.
The rebuild will be ruthless. There will be more arrivals, more departures, more noise. Yet when the dust of this summer eventually settles, it may be the two defenders signed in January, before Iraola even walked through the door, who tell us how bold this new Liverpool really intends to be.
