Iraola's Tough Choices at Liverpool: Chiesa and Endo Left Out of Champions League Squad
Andoni Iraola has not wasted time making enemies of sentiment at Liverpool.
Before a ball has even been kicked in Europe under his watch, the new manager has drawn a hard line, leaving Federico Chiesa and Wataru Endo out of his 25-man Champions League squad for the 2026-27 campaign. Two seasoned internationals, two big reputations – both watching from the outside as Liverpool prepare to face Atletico Madrid at Anfield on September 9.
This is not a clerical oversight. It is a statement.
Iraola’s ruthless list
UEFA’s rules are unforgiving: only 17 non-locally trained players can be named on List A. Every slot counts. Iraola has chosen to spend those places on the £123 million signing Bradley Barcola, fellow summer arrival Victor Munoz, and even on injured forward Hugo Ekitike.
Chiesa and Endo did not make the cut.
The decision underlines where they sit in the new hierarchy. Ekitike, currently sidelined, is deemed more central to the project than a near-fit Chiesa. Conor Bradley and Giovanni Leoni, both long-term absentees, are registered too. The message is clear: this is about the future Iraola wants, not the past Liverpool built.
Carragher’s blunt verdict
Jamie Carragher did not bother dressing it up. Speaking on The Overlap, the former Liverpool defender gave a stark reading of the situation.
“Liverpool have got two players in the squad who are never going to play,” he said. “And there are all these quotas, you can only have 17 players and all that. They have got Chiesa and Endo. It’s like they are never going to kick a ball.”
If the omission from the Champions League list hinted at their status, Carragher put it into words. Endo, in particular, came under scrutiny.
“Endo should have been moved on,” he added. “He has done great, a bit of a cult hero.”
Cult heroes are cherished by fans. They are not always protected by managers. Iraola appears to agree.
Two careers drifting to the margins
The numbers tell their own story. Endo’s influence was already waning last season: just eight Premier League appearances and a single Champions League outing. A player once trusted to plug gaps and steady games has slipped to the fringes.
Chiesa’s Liverpool career has barely had the chance to gather rhythm. Fitness issues have stalked his time on Merseyside. At 28, he should be at his peak, yet he remains stuck in stop-start mode, now nursing another muscle injury. The current problem is not thought to be long term, but that hardly softens the blow of seeing others chosen ahead of him.
When a manager registers long-term casualties like Bradley and Leoni but leaves out a senior attacker who is edging back towards fitness, it does not feel like a temporary call. It feels like a verdict.
Both players are tied down – Endo until 2027, Chiesa until 2028 – but contracts no longer guarantee prominence. They simply buy a club time to decide what comes next.
Europe moves on without them
Liverpool’s schedule offers little breathing space. Ipswich Town visit Anfield on Friday in the league, a domestic hurdle to clear before the lights go up for Atletico Madrid and the start of a demanding Champions League league phase. Trips to Inter and Fenerbahce loom, the kind of nights players dream of when they sign for Liverpool.
Chiesa and Endo will not be there.
Their immediate horizon shrinks to domestic cups and the hope that circumstances twist in their favour. UEFA does allow squad alterations in specific cases later in the campaign, but that typically requires an injury crisis, not a change of heart.
For now, they are on the outside of Iraola’s Liverpool, looking in. The new manager has drawn his map of who matters most in Europe. If Chiesa and Endo want their names back on it, they will have to force his hand in the only places they are still allowed to play.
