Andoni Iraola has new transfer priority after Liverpool get last thing they needed
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With Ibrahima Konate now a Real Madrid player and Virgil van Dijk enjoying some much-needed time off, the last thing Liverpool needed on this tour of the United States was an issue at centre-back.That, however, was up in smoke inside eight minutes at Nashville's GEODIS Park when Joe Gomez pulled up injured of this 4-2 win over Sunderland.The acting Reds' captain was swiftly replaced and the hope is that the substitution was taken as just a precaution.That will certainly be the case for Andoni Iraola who was already without new £60m signing Jeremy Jacquet. The new arrival was left out of this friendly as a precaution to continue building up his fitness having not played since February, due to a season-ending shoulder injury.With Jacquet sidelined and Gomez forced off, Liverpool's centre-back partnership became Mor Talla Ndiaye and Ifeanyi Ndukwe, the two teenagers signed in January ahead of summer arrivals.The pair were recruited by director of global talent, Matt Newberry, after they both caught the eye at the Under-17s World Cup in Qatar and both will gain valuable senior experience from this trip.But being forced to field a pair of 18-year-olds at centre-half this early into the summer is a worrying prospect for Iraola.Nineteen-year-old Giovanni Leoni is on the comeback trail but the Italian's Anfield career so far amounts to 81 minutes of a Carabao Cup game against a Championship side and a 10-month injury lay-off.Van Dijk remains the only constant in a rapidly evolving centre-half department but he turned 35 this month and is now inside the final 12 months of one of the biggest contract ever on Merseyside.However Iraola slices it, a new centre-back, of a more experienced profile, should be part of the thinking in recruitment meetings this summer transfer window.FOLLOW OUR LIVERPOOL FC FACEBOOK PAGE!
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