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 Manchester.

The Liverpool squad returned home on Monday morning following a fortnight-long pre-season tour of the United States.

The trip will have opened Iraola’s eyes to the size of the club he’s joined as head coach, as Liverpool played in front of more than 115,000 supporters across three 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 over Sunderland and Wrexham followed by Sunday’s 4-2 defeat by Leeds United at Chicago’s Soldier Field, 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 2-0 half-time lead.

“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 the Premier League opener away at 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 the winners and losers of their pre-season tour…

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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 be 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 their 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.

His positioning and reading of the game was spot on and there was 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, he looks ready to go to the next level in 2026-27.

Asked to switch flanks and play on the right in midweek against Wrexham, 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 0ff at the break, it was telling how Liverpool’s midfield control and attacking thrust fell to pieces in the second half against Leeds.

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 U.S., the Hungary midfielder has been the stand-in skipper and someone the array of youngsters look up to.

Any judgements regarding this trip have to factor in that this was Liverpool without Van Dijk, Munoz, Alexis Mac Allister, Cody Gakpo or Alisson following their World Cup commitments. Jeremy Jacquet, Hugo Ekitike, Conor Bradley, Wataru Endo, Giovanni Leoni and Stefan Bajcetic travelled 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 the end of this tour. But he’s certainly given Iraola food for thought.

Chambers scored the opening goal against Leeds when he hammered home from close range after Kerkez flicked 0n Szoboszlai’s 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 last of his four competitive first-team appearances for Liverpool came under Jurgen Klopp in December 2023.

That he can play two positions in the backline, coupled with the fact that Kostas Tsimikas has hardly covered himself in glory since returning from his loan at Roma, Iraola must be tempted to keep Chambers around.

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 missing, Jacquet not fully fit and Leoni still on the comeback trail, Gomez had the perfect opportunity to steal a march on his centre-back rivals.

Instead, inside eight minutes of the opening tour game against Sunderland in Nashville, 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 staff had commented on how good he had looked in training building up to that contest.

Gomez’s 11-year stay at Anfield has been littered with setbacks. That explains why the 29-year-old has only clocked up 274 appearances in all competitions.

When fit, he’s 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 Gomez is one of them. His availability has to be regarded as a bonus rather than a likelihood.

Jeremy Jacquet

This U.S. 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 due to 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.  “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 with him with Virgil (van Dijk) when he recovers. We have to be careful with Jeremy.”

With only Anfield friendlies against Monaco and Como to come, 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 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. 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 Liverpool 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 in New York when he vented his spleen at Szoboszlai for giving the captain’s armband to Tsimikas rather than him when he was subbed off.

There was no repeat against Leeds as Szoboszlai made a beeline for Jones and handed over the armband 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 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 Leeds’ fourth.

Liverpool really need to buy rather than sell but if Inter raise their offer to €40million a parting of the ways would make sense.