Liverpool are entering a new era under Andoni Iraola, with the club desperate to shake off the hangover from a deeply disappointing 2025/26 campaign under Arne Slot.
Slot departs with a complicated legacy, his stunning title-winning debut season followed by a collapse that left FSG with little choice but to make a change in the dugout.
The numbers tell a brutal story, with Slot’s points-per-match average dropping from 2.21 in 2024/25 to just 1.58 the following season, wins falling from 25 to 17 across 38 league games.
Iraola has described his own system as “rock and roll” football, a front-footed approach that feels far more aligned with what Liverpool supporters have come to expect from their club.
One of the more uncomfortable truths from last season is that Alexis Mac Allister was a significant part of the problem, failing to replicate his title-winning performances from the campaign before.
Mac Allister had previously been instrumental across both the Klopp and Slot eras, winning the Carabao Cup and the Premier League as a key figure in a rebuilt Liverpool midfield.
Last season, however, he became, in the words of one assessment, “a clamp on the wheels of the Liverpool machine,” stifling a system that desperately needed him to perform.
Multiple reports have linked the 27-year-old with a move to Spain, a destination he is understood to be eager to pursue, and FSG appear ready to facilitate a sale.
According to transfer reporter Graeme Bailey for TEAMtalk, Liverpool are among several Premier League clubs who have made contact with representatives of Roma midfielder Manu Kone.
Kone, 25, is currently representing France at the World Cup, and Roma are reported to be willing to sell should their £50m valuation be met by an interested party.
Rio Ferdinand has gone as far as calling Kone “France’s best midfielder at this World Cup,” underlining just how much the Roma man has caught the attention of top clubs.
Analyst Raj Chohan also praised Kone’s “phenomenal defensive performance” against Morocco, highlighting the midfielder’s “top press resistance” as a standout quality.
The statistics from the 2025/26 league season paint a clear picture of why Kone is attracting interest, averaging 61.4 touches, 42.7 accurate passes, and 4.4 ball recoveries per 90 minutes.
By comparison, Mac Allister averaged 50.3 touches, 33.6 accurate passes, and just 3.0 ball recoveries per 90, with Kone also winning duels at a rate of 50% against Mac Allister’s 45%.
Kone also completed successful dribbles at a rate of 1.0 per 90 at a 62% success rate, compared to Mac Allister’s 0.3 per 90 at just 41%, illustrating a clear gap in athleticism and forward carrying.
Kone was a linchpin for a Roma side that qualified for the Champions League in May after years of absence from Europe’s elite competition.
His power and precision in the tackle were central to Roma’s achievement, and that combative quality is precisely what Iraola’s high-energy system will demand from a central midfielder.
Liverpool’s midfield struggled badly alongside Mac Allister last season, with Ryan Gravenberch also falling well below the standards that had made him such a key figure the year before.
Securing Kone would hand Iraola a ready-made solution, a midfielder with the athleticism, press resistance, and defensive solidity to serve as the engine of the new head coach’s ambitious system.
If Liverpool can agree a fee with Roma and fend off Premier League rivals, they may well find that selling Mac Allister and investing in Kone is the clearest path back toward title contention.