Andoni Iraola insists he is happy with Liverpool’s summer business – but has hinted he was keen for more.
The Reds made three major signings led by the marquee £123m buy of Bradley Barcola, who is fit to feature against Ipswich on Friday night, plus Victor Munoz and Ronald Araujo. They also saw Jeremy Jacquet arrive from Rennes after striking an agreement in January.
Liverpool, though, look light at full back and midfield.
‘I’m very happy with all the signings we’ve made,’ insisted Iraola. ‘Three or four signings with Jeremy, I’m very happy with all the signings. I know the next question: “Do you want more signings in other positions?”.
‘At the end, the club has decided those signings we have done are the ones that improved our team and our position. There were other options we decided not to take, for different reasons.
‘Sometimes it is sporting reasons because they don’t improve what you have, sometimes it is economical reasons as it didn’t make sense in terms of the market to do those movements.
Bradley Barcola is available to make his Liverpool debut against Ipswich Town on Friday night
‘But I’m happy now I know what we have, I have a lot of quality in the team and now it is the moment for us, for the players, for me to develop what we have.’
Iraola is delighted with the signing of Barcola and added: ‘We are very happy with Bradley. It was our priority to sign a very, very good player in that position. He has also come with the right mentality.
‘I liked that he wanted Liverpool a lot. He just wanted to come here and I think that is a good first sign. Being the player that he is and the things that he has won recently, he has come with the willingness to help us. I am very happy with him and he trained well with us.
‘If everything goes well in training today, he will definitely be available for tomorrow’s game.’
Meanwhile, Joe Gomez is nearing making a recovery after a muscular injury that has seen him miss six weeks. Fellow defender Giovanni Leoni, who ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament last September, is hoping to return to training at the end of this month.
