Andoni Iraola reveals which injured Liverpool player is "closest" to a return

How Liverpool's season will look, at least the first half of it, has taken shape. The Champions League fixture list has been revealed, and the transfer window has now closed, meaning Andoni Iraola squad and opponents up until January are, more or less, all now set in stone.

Despite a quieter transfer window than fans and pundits had demanded, Liverpool are set to hand Bradley Barcola his debut at Portman Road on Friday night.

Speaking at his pre-match news conference at AXA Training Centre on Thursday, head coach Andoni Iraola confirmed that the Frenchman "will definitely be available", but did not reveal if he'll start or begin the night among the substitutes.

Amid the lingering uncertainty, supporters are understandably eager for updates on Liverpool's long-term absentees and fortunately, Andoni Iraola was pressed on the issue in his latest press conference.

"Closest one is Joe [Gomez]. He will start training with us next week.Next one is Giovanni Leoni, he could be training during the break with the group. Conor [Bradley] and especially Hugo [Ekitikié] longer. "

Andoni Iraola on injured players

Thus, mixed news with regards the injured quartet, so let's look at each player individually.

Joe Gomez

Joe Gomez suffered a muscle injury less than ten minutes into Liverpool's first pre-season game of the summer. This saw the Englishman replaced very early on by Ifeanyi Ndukwe against Sunderland at Geodis Park in Nashville. That match in Tennessee was almost six weeks ago now, so the 29 year old should be available soon, as Iraola stated.

Giovanni Leoni

If ever the phrase "like a new signing" has even been applicable to a player, it is surely Giovanni Leoni. The Italian tore his anterior cruciate ligament on debut against Southampton in the EFL Cup almost exactly a year ago, with most fans forgetting all about him subsequently.

Nevertheless, Leoni can really bolster the area of need that is centre-back. When he arrived from Parma for a reported fee of £26 million last August, the 18 year old was one of the most highly rated young defenders anywhere in Europe.

Of course, he will need time to rediscover his sharpness, but Leoni's return is not too far away. Iraola noted that the plan is for the Italian to return to full training during the new elongated international break, which takes place between 20 September and 10 October.

Conor Bradley

As fans already suspected, the other two injured players are still not close to a return. Conor Bradley damaged both the bone and ligaments during an innocuous fall against Arsenal in January, although positively did not rupture his ACL. Nevertheless, the Northern Irishman is still some months away from being available to the manager.

Iraola later described not having Conor at his disposal as a "challenge", very much suggesting that Dominik Szoboszlai could be used at right-back given that Jeremie Frimpong, how can we put this gently, continues not to win over the fan base.

Hugo Ekitikié

Liverpool brought in seven new signings last summer, but Hugo Ekitiké stood out as the clear star of the bunch. Thus, it cannot be overstated how much of a massive blow his injury is, suffering a ruptured Achilles tendon during April's Champions League defeat to Paris Saint-Germain.

While Iraola believes that Ekitiké, as well as the other sidelined players, will "play a chunk" of this campaign, the Frenchan's injury can take a year to recover from, meaing he will surely miss almost the entire campaign. For now, they'll have to make do without him, needing to get Alexander Isak fit and firing.

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