The winners and losers of Liverpool’s pre-season tour: Nyoni shines, Jones struggles

Andoni Iraola and his staff had much to ponder on the eight-hour flight from Chicago back to the UK.

The Liverpool squad returned home on Monday morning following a two-week, three-match pre-season tour in the United States.

The trip will have opened Iraola’s eyes to the size of the club he’s joined this summer as head coach, as Liverpool played in front of more than 115,000 supporters across the lucrative friendlies in Nashville, New York and Chicago.

There were plenty of promising signs regarding the impact the former Bournemouth boss has had since being appointed as Arne Slot’s successor.

However, with wins against Sunderland and Wrexham followed by Sunday’s 4-2 defeat by Leeds United at Soldier Field, home of the NFL’s Chicago Bears, there were also causes for concern.

“Not the result we wanted but probably the most useful friendly we played,” Iraola told LFCTV after watching his side throw away a two-goal half-time lead.

“(Useful) 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.”

With their opening Premier League match away to Newcastle United less than three weeks away, there’s a lot of work to be done both on the training field and in the transfer market in order to fuel the belief that Liverpool will be contenders for the biggest prizes in 2026-27.

Here are our winners and losers from their pre-season tour…

Winners…

Trey Nyoni

The 19-year-old midfielder was Liverpool’s player of the tour by some distance.

Nyoni grew in stature across the three matches, staking a strong claim to be kept around this season rather than get loaned out.

The former Leicester City youngster only started two Carabao Cup ties under Slot last season, with a further 12 outings in all competitions coming off the bench.

Liverpool desperately need reinforcements in attack and defence. However, Nyoni’s development could save them a fortune in the engine room.

There was so much to admire about Nyoni’s first-half performance against Leeds as he won possession and kept Iraola’s side on the front foot. He certainly looks better able to handle the physicality of first-team football, underlined by the robust manner in which he dumped Lukas Nmecha on his backside at one point.

His positioning and reading of the game were spot on and there was also a pinpoint cross for Jeremie Frimpong in the build-up to Liverpool’s second goal.

Iraola has sung Nyoni’s praises on this trip, and understandably so.

Rio Ngumoha

When Bayern Munich’s interest in the teenage winger was made public earlier this summer, Liverpool’s stance was that he was simply not for sale at any price.

Ngumoha is a gem and, after enjoying such an eye-catching breakthrough campaign in difficult circumstances in 2025-26, he looks ready to go to the next level.

Asked to switch flanks and play on the right in midweek against Wrexham on Wednesday, his deflected strike settled that contest at Yankee Stadium. On Sunday, he was back on the left for the first half and caused Leeds a stack of problems.

Some of his link-up play with Milos Kerkez down that side certainly bodes well for the challenges ahead. With the step-overs and the burst of pace, Ngumoha is a delight to watch.

What happens if Liverpool agree a fee with Paris Saint-Germain for Bradley Barcola, who prefers to operate on the left? Will Ngumoha have to adapt to playing on the right? Or will new signing Victor Munoz be used there?

With Ngumoha, Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and Nyoni all subbed off at the break last night against Leeds, it was telling how Liverpool’s midfield control and attacking thrust fell to pieces in the second half.

Dominik Szoboszlai

Having ended speculation over his future by signing a new five-year contract, Szoboszlai stepped up in the absence of some big names during this tour.

With club captain Virgil van Dijk not travelling to the United States following World Cup duty with the Netherlands, the Hungary midfielder has been the stand-in skipper and someone the travelling squad’s array of youngsters look up to.

Any judgements regarding this trip have to factor in that this was a Liverpool without Van Dijk, Munoz, Alexis Mac Allister, Cody Gakpo or Alisson as they took their post-World Cup breaks. Jeremy Jacquet, Hugo Ekitike, Conor Bradley, Wataru Endo, Giovanni Leoni and Stefan Bajcetic were there but didn’t feature due to ongoing rehab or fitness concerns.

Szoboszlai was in the thick of all three games and looked fit and sharp. He’s ideally suited to the kind of high-energy, high-press Iraola is trying to install.

He scored a beauty in the win over Sunderland in Nashville and got the fans off their feet with his athleticism and dynamism against both Wrexham and Leeds.

“I had a long holiday — the longest in my whole career — but I am happy to be back and to be working again,” Szoboszlai told reporters post-match in Chicago.

“Over the past two weeks, we got to know each other more and more. We had two wins, one loss, and we learned a lot. We conceded two goals from set pieces, so we need to take better care of them. Everyone has to do their job from set pieces, and then we don’t concede — it’s as easy as that.

“But we are also human beings who are going to make mistakes. The most important thing now is that we react. We have two more friendly games before the season starts. That’s what we focus on now. Now we go back to Liverpool and the whole squad will be ready to compete again.”

Luke Chambers

With Liverpool so depleted defensively, the 22-year-old left-back found himself pressed into duty at centre-back in all three matches. He can be proud of his efforts.

The plan was always for Chambers, who has been at the club’s academy since he was six, to be loaned out following this tour. But he’s certainly given Iraola food for thought in terms of keeping him around.

Chambers scored the opening goal against Leeds when he hammered home from close range after Kerkez flicked on a Szoboszlai corner.

The former England youth international spent the second half of last season at Charlton Athletic having previously had loan spells at Kilmarnock and Wigan Athletic. The most recent of his four competitive first-team appearances for Liverpool came under Jurgen Klopp in December 2023.

That he can play two positions in the back line, coupled with the fact that Kostas Tsimikas has hardly covered himself in glory since returning from his season on loan at Roma, Iraola must be tempted to hang onto Chambers.

It’s certainly a shame that the new head coach can’t count on Austrian teenager Ifeanyi Ndukwe, who out-shone fellow rookie defender Mor Talla Ndiaye in the U.S. but will have to be loaned out this season due to work permit issues.

Losers…

Joe Gomez

You have to feel for Liverpool’s longest-serving player. With Van Dijk on a beach somewhere, Jacquet not fully fit and Leoni still moving down the comeback trail after his ACL injury last September, Gomez had the perfect opportunity on this tour to steal a march on his centre-back rivals.

Instead, less than 10 minutes into its opening game against Sunderland, he limped off with a muscle injury which Iraola says is likely to keep him out for around a month. It was especially cruel given that club staff had commented on how good he had looked in training building up to that contest in Nashville.

Gomez’s 11-year stay at Anfield has been littered with such setbacks. That explains why the 29-year-old has only clocked up 274 appearances in all competitions (an average of just under 25 per season) during that time.

When fit, Gomez is a class act, and is also able to deputise at right-back. But this tour has reinforced the fact that you can’t go into the new season with just four senior centre-backs if he is one of them. His availability has to be regarded as a bonus rather than a likelihood.

Jeremy Jacquet

This tour should have been the setting for the young French defender to show why Liverpool bought him from Rennes in a £60million deal.

However, Iraola opted to take no chances with Jacquet, who hasn’t played since February following shoulder surgery.

“He did the first part of the pre-season, let’s say, very well,” Iraola said in the build-up to Sunday’s game against Leeds. “Now he’s feeling some discomfort, so we don’t want to rush him.

“He comes from a lot of months without playing. And obviously I would like to try him with Virgil when he recovers. We have to be careful with Jeremy.”

With only Anfield friendlies against Monaco and Como on the next two Sundays to come before it all starts for real in Newcastle on August 23, the clock is ticking for Jacquet to prove he’s ready to start the new Premier League season alongside Van Dijk. There’s little time for them to establish any kind of on-pitch rapport.

It’s a far from ideal situation as Liverpool look to the future following the summer departure of Ibrahima Konate, who joined Real Madrid on a free transfer.

Defensively, there’s real concern, compounded by the ongoing absence of first-choice right-back Bradley, who is still a few months away from fitness after a serious knee injury in January. Frimpong appeared to be struggling when he was substituted late on against Leeds.

“Jeremie asked for the sub, but I don’t think it’s an injury,” Iraola said. “It was just some overload, and I hope he’s not injured in that way. I don’t think we’ve lost anyone.”

Even if Frimpong is fit, it requires a big leap of faith to believe he can adequately fill the void until Bradley’s return. Calvin Ramsay isn’t good enough, so Liverpool need to dip into the market.

Curtis Jones

It’s not been an easy fortnight for the home-grown midfielder. Inside the final year of his contract and with Serie A champions Inter reigniting their pursuit of him, his future is very much up in the air.

The uncertainty seemed to have an impact on Jones’ form on this trip. He didn’t use any of the games to show Iraola why he really should be kept around.

Jones also created unnecessary drama after the win over Wrexham when he vented his spleen at Szoboszlai for giving the captain’s armband to Tsimikas rather than him when being subbed off.

There was no repeat against Leeds four days later as Szoboszlai made a beeline for Jones and handed it over before heading to the touchline when his number went up midway through the second half.

But Jones certainly didn’t cover himself in glory as Leeds rallied from two goals down to secure victory. After Kerkez lost possession cheaply in the build-up to their first goal, Ramsay was caught out at the near post for the second, with Tsimikas equally culpable.

Jones’ lack of alertness to the danger around him allowed Sean Longstaff to make it 3-2, and then he was also out-fought by Dominic Calvert-Lewin for the fourth.

Liverpool really need to buy rather than sell, but if Inter raise their offer to €40million (£34.2m; $46.1m), a parting of the ways would make sense.

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