Andoni Iraola admitted that lessons were learned from Liverpool’s 4-2 defeat to Leeds in pre-season.DOWNLOAD THE OFFICIAL EMPIRE OF THE KOP APP FOR ALL THE LATEST & BREAKING UPDATES – STRAIGHT TO YOUR PHONE! ON APPLE & GOOGLE PLAYGoals from Luke Chambers and Florian Wirtz saw the Reds take a commanding lead against Daniel Farke’s men in Chicago.However, following a host of second-half changes – with the very impressive Trey Nyoni substituted – the Merseysiders struggled to maintain their early superiority, shipping four goals in 25 minutes.Andoni Iraola sends subtle message to Richard HughesThere’s a message there, you’d think, for Liverpool’s sporting director, Richard Hughes, and our recruitment team.“Not the result we wanted but probably the most useful friendly we played,” the Basque told LFCTV.“In a positive way in the first half and in a negative way in the second half. I think we learned a lot. We can take good conclusions and solve some things.“We want to get ready for the start of the season – that is when people want to see us play well and get results.”Certainly, it felt like the former Bournemouth boss was again reiterating the club’s need for reinforcements with the window after a poor second-half showing exposed the limitations of the squad.Want more Empire of the Kop coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trustYes, of course, it’s worth bearing in mind that we’ll have a number of important first-XI stars to welcome back in the near future, including Virgil van Dijk, Alexis Mac Allister and Alisson Becker.But it would be incredibly naive to assume that these options will be enough to inspire confidence from the fanbase in our potential fortunes this coming term.What on earth are Hughes and Liverpool’s recruitment team doing?We have to admit that faith in recruitment is starting to dwindle somewhat.It has now been 46 days (and counting) since Liverpool completed the signing of Victor Munoz from Osasuna. And, really, if we’re not counting the addition of Jeremy Jacquet (who was signed in January), we’ve only made one addition to the squad all summer.Given the scale of business that clearly needs to be done, that’s absolutely appalling.Even more worryingly, we’ve had reports from reliable sources like Fabrizio Romano indicating that our talks with PSG for Bradley Barcola could go down to the wire.“Barcola is more than open to joining the Liverpool project. Now it’s on club to club. The conversations will continue next week. My feeling is this is not going to be something imminent, so I don’t expect that he will go on Monday or on Tuesday. There is still work to do between Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain,” the Italian spoke on his eponymous YouTube channel.“So there is a possibility this is going to be a saga in this summer transfer window. But this depends on Liverpool — on how much they want to spend. Paris Saint-Germain are open to negotiating, but there are conditions — expensive deal. So negotiations are going to take place for Barcola, but don’t forget that the player wants to go to Liverpool, and Liverpool consider Barcola their top, top target.”Listen, that’s all and well and good if you’re also simultaneously working to complete other deals. But if the Barcola deal is going to impact every other piece of business we hope to conduct this summer – as we very much suspect is the case – then it seems Liverpool are risking going into the new season with a bare-bones squad.READ MORE: Bradley Barcola just got closer to Liverpool transfer after seismic Friday updateIf that’s seriously the plan, Liverpool need to reevaluate things in the market – and quickly. As wonderful a signing the French international would be, we’re currently short of a right-back, centre-back, holding six, central striker, and a right-sided attacker.You can make the argument that the likes of Rio Ngumoha, Bradley Barcola and Victor Munoz are positionally versatile enough to cover the right flank.But Liverpool cannot go into the 2026/27 season without any senior depth behind Virgil van Dijk and Jeremy Jacquet, nor can they ignore the right-back spot while Conor Bradley is still recovering from injury.If the choice is the PSG star or a more complete squad, we’d rather see Andoni Iraola given the bodies his football requires.More Stories / Latest NewsAndoni Iraola sent subtle message to Richard Hughes immediately after Leeds collapseAugust 3, 2026 12:04Liverpool could sign RW plus Bradley Barcola after Fabrizio Romano’s morning updateAugust 3, 2026 9:20“Said yes; personal terms agreed” – Fabrizio Romano drops transfer development amid Bradley Barcola talksAugust 2, 2026 23:19The post Andoni Iraola sent subtle message to Richard Hughes immediately after Leeds collapse appeared first on The Empire of The Kop.