Former Liverpool captain Paul Ince says a "massive revamp" is needed at Anfield under Andoni Iraola this summer
06:00, 03 Jul 2026
Former Liverpool captain Paul Ince believes Andoni Iraola faces "a massive revamp" this summer to succeed at Anfield.
And the ex-England midfielder Ince has challenged Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister to rediscover the form displayed in the 2024/25 campaign when the Reds won their 20th league title.
Iraola was employed as the new head coach on a two-year deal last month after Arne Slot was relieved of his duties at the end of May, having limped to a fifth-place finish in a campaign that saw the team lose 12 league games.
Iraola is tasked with improving on that disappointing campaign but the Basque coach arrives on Merseyside having seen Ibrahima Konate, Andy Robertson and Mohamed Salah all leave as free agent.
Jeremy Jacquet's £60m capture from Rennes was confirmed on Wednesday and the Reds acted quickly to secure Victor Munoz from Osasuna two weeks ago, but Ince, who made 81 appearances during his two seasons on Merseyside, believes Iraola has a big task in reshaping the squad.
And Ince also questioned the club's pursuit of RB Leipzig winger Yan Diomande, who has reportedly set his sights on a move to Paris Saint-Germain if he does leave the Bundesliga club this summer.
"There is a massive revamp to do at Liverpool," Ince told BestBettingSites.com. "A big revamp. Even with Curtis Jones now being linked to Inter - to be a truly great player, you have to perform year in and year out.
"We use that word 'great' too easily and too flippantly now. To earn that, you have to sustain it.
"So it'll be interesting to see who Iraola brings in. People are talking about Yan Diomande from RB Leipzig for £90million or something like that.
"Honestly, I watched him the other day and I think: 'Yeah, he's got some nice attributes, but he's a bit of a fizzy drink - he just pops up here and there.'
"For £90million, I'm thinking: 'Jesus Christ!' Especially when you've got the young lad Rio Ngumoha at Liverpool, who is only 16 or 17 and plays on that left-hand side.
"Why do we need to go and spend that money on someone who is only two years older than him?
"I'm interested to see how they do. I certainly don't expect them to win the title this year, that's for sure, but it will be interesting to see what acquisitions Iraola brings in to make them better, because they need a much better season."
Ince added: "When you manage Liverpool, the fans always have an expectation, just like when you're at Manchester United. I looked at Liverpool last season and I just thought it wasn't right. There were a lot of issues there.
"Obviously, the Mohamed Salah stuff with Arne Slot wasn't great for the club. It's very rare that you see that kind of friction come out publicly from Liverpool Football Club; you usually see that stuff come out of other clubs.
"Also, you very rarely hear Liverpool fans boo. Never - that's not the Liverpool way. When the fans start doing that, you kind of think: 'Right, something is not right here, there's a deep issue.'
"When I talk about great players, I talk about Roy Keane, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, or Mark Hughes.
"These are great players because they performed at the top level week in, week out and year in, year out in the Premier League. That's a great player - not someone who just does it for one season.
"Under Slot in his first season, the likes of Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister were absolutely fantastic, outstanding.
"But last season, I thought they were poor. Virgil van Dijk wasn't at his absolute best, Ibrahima Konate wasn't at his best, and you obviously lost Trent Alexander-Arnold to Real Madrid.
"On top of that, Salah wasn't at his peak. So you can see why they weren't performing well. Alexander Isak got injured straight away, came back and scored against Tottenham, but then got injured for the rest of the season.
"If you go through that squad, Federico Chiesa hasn't been the signing we thought he would be at this moment.
"Hugo Ekitike has been out for three months. So you can see exactly why they struggled last year, and that’s not even mentioning the impact that Diogo Jota’s death would have had on the club."
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