Jamie Carragher singles out Liverpool star with ‘what’s the point’ claim as biggest worry voiced

Jamie Carragher has revealed what his biggest concern for Andoni Iraola is while also appearing to single out a Liverpool star.

Despite welcoming Jeremy Jacquet, Victor Munoz and loanee Ronald Araujo to Liverpool this summer, the Reds are still short in several areas of the pitch.

Curtis Jones continues to be linked with a move to Inter, while Joe Gomez, Stefan Bajcetic, Conor Bradley, Hugo Ekitike, Giovanni Leoni and Jacquet remain out injured, handing Iraola a defensive dilemma, with Virgil van Dijk the only fully fit first-team defender before the arrival of Araujo last week.

The departures of Andrew Robertson, Mohamed Salah and Ibrahima Konate have also left voids in Liverpool’s squad that have yet to be addressed this summer, despite the Reds pursuing Paris Saint-Germain winger Bradley Barcola.

And despite Liverpool’s lack of depth in defence being well documented, former Reds captain Carragher believes Iraola should also look to add to midfield, offering his thoughts on the current trio of Alexis Mac Allister, Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai.

“The midfield issue for me is still a huge problem for Liverpool,” Carragher said, speaking on the Overlap Fan Debate, brought to you by Sky Bet.

“I haven’t watched all the pre-season games, but I watched the last two against decent opposition - it was Leeds and then Monaco. And the problem Liverpool had last season was there was space everywhere in Liverpool’s midfield. That has not gone away at all. That’s only going to get bigger with the deployment of [Dominik] Szoboszlai in midfield - it looks like they’re going to play him, rather than as a number 10, almost as a central midfield player alongside [Ryan] Gravenberch, and that is just pure box-to-box.

“I look at that midfield three and I worry about Liverpool. When you name six or seven of Liverpool’s players, you can’t say they’re not top players - you can’t say Gravenberch is not a really good player, or [Florian] Wirtz, or [Dominik] Szoboszlai. But as a midfield three, I look at that and think, oh no - there’s almost too much quality, but they all want to go and play and run. And even in pre-season, the space is coming through the middle.”

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Jamie Carragher confused by Alexis Mac Allister's role at Liverpool

The Liverpudlian also explained how he’d like the Reds to have a “passer” and “destructor” in midfield before saying he is confused about Mac Allister’s role in the side.

He continued: “What’s the point of [Alexis] Mac Allister if he’s not your passer? Because he’s not running everywhere - he’s supposed to sit in midfield and dictate the play. But number two, Gravenberch isn’t what you’d call a complete midfielder… he’s not a [Moises] Caicedo - he’s probably got a slightly different game. He’s not just an out-and-out number six. We [Liverpool] need to buy that type of player, not just to play every week, but what if Gravenberch gets injured? You’re telling me that Liverpool’s central midfield will only be Mac Allister and Szoboszlai!?”

Mac Allister, 27, made 55 appearances for Liverpool last term, registering five goals and seven assists, although he failed to reach the level he did during the 2024/25 campaign when Arne Slot’s side won the title.

The South American also played all eight games as Argentina reached the World Cup final.

Liverpool continue their preparations for the campaign on Sunday (August 16), when they face Serie A’s Como at Anfield, before getting their Premier League season underway with a trip to Newcastle United on August 23.