Anfield Daily — 15 November 2026

Ronald Araujo finished Uruguay's 2-1 win over Argentina in Buenos Aires in obvious discomfort, and the timing could hardly be worse for Andoni Iraola.

The centre-back is on loan at Liverpool with a £47m option to buy next summer, so his fitness matters twice over: to the immediate selection against Manchester United and to the longer-term planning around him.

Alexis Mac Allister was on the losing side in that same friendly, a small subplot in an afternoon that ended badly for the Reds. Conor Bradley's expected return offers some relief given the state of the right side of defence, but the middle of it is now the question.

Whether Araujo is available for the United game is the first thing Iraola will want answered on Monday morning.

There was genuine concern about Dominik Szoboszlai's knee before Hungary's latest outing, and he did his best to settle it by playing and finishing with an assist.

The midfielder gave an update on the issue afterwards, and the fact he featured at all is the strongest signal available that this is a niggle rather than a problem. Nine Liverpool players were in international action on Saturday, with Szoboszlai among the most prominent and Abe scoring too.

For a squad already missing options in defence, a clean bill of health in midfield counts for a lot. Iraola will still want him assessed properly before United.

Ian Rush has little patience for the line that Alexander Isak drifts out of games, pointing out that a centre-forward's first job is to put the ball in the net and that Isak is doing exactly that.

The comparison being drawn is with Erling Haaland, which tells you the standard Isak is being measured against after his start to the season. Rush's argument is the old one and the right one: touch maps and pressing angles are fine, but a striker who scores is not a problem to be solved.

It is a useful voice to have in the debate, from the man whose record Isak is chasing.

Ten Premier League matches into Andoni Iraola's reign, patterns are emerging, and one change in particular stands out as evidence that this is a different Liverpool from the one that finished last season. The sample is now big enough to talk about method rather than mood.

Jamie Carragher's read is blunter: this is not an amazing team yet, and he wants something specific from the Manchester United fixture under Mauricio Pochettino. Dejan Lovren, never shy, thinks the title conversation should still include the Reds.

Between the caution and the optimism sits the truth of a side still being built.

Dejan Lovren thinks the £47m option on Ronald Araujo is a deal worth taking, arguing the Uruguayan would cost something like £80m in the open market. That is a persuasive case, though it depends heavily on the injury situation that has just surfaced.

Elsewhere the recruitment department stays busy: Liverpool have reportedly sent scouts to watch a Bundesliga prospect, and a Bayern Munich player is said to be extremely high on the shortlist.

James Pearce's reporting seems to have cooled the Finn Jeltsch link, with Christian Falk suggesting Bayern are better placed there. One defender is claimed to be staying, and it is not Virgil van Dijk.

Harvey Elliott has managed 152 La Liga minutes out of a possible 810 on loan in Spain, and reports from Valencia suggest he could be sent back to Liverpool in January. That is not the mid-season reinforcement anyone had in mind.

The wider picture is a squad where a long-serving player's exit only collapsed because another deal fell through at the last minute, and where a striker with 83 goals to his name is drawing interest from a Serie A club ready to talk. Iraola and Julian Ward have work to do in both directions.