Andoni Iraola has seen enough, it’s the end of the line for ‘average’ Liverpool star

Andoni Iraola has now been in charge of two pre-season games for Liverpool.

The Reds have managed to win both of their outings so far with the Spaniard's system finally coming into play.

From the games that Liverpool have played so far, it's clear that the Reds will be a much more attacking side and will heavily rely on their players to create chances and get the ball into the back of the net.

Some of the Reds' youngsters have been handed opportunities to prove their worth and, at the moment, it feels like some of them could genuinely be in the running to feature in Liverpool's first-team squad.

It's obviously still early days so things could change before the 2026-27 season properly kicks off but, at the moment, the fate of one Liverpool star feels like it has now been sealed.

Liverpool are willing to let Cody Gakpo exit Anfield this summer

Cody Gakpo's 2025-26 season is one that he will want to forget with the attacker even being dubbed an 'average' player due to his poor performances.

Although he still contributed to a decent number of goals for Liverpool, the Dutchman should have performed much better than he did.

Arne Slot chose to play his fellow countryman as a striker and a left-winger but, no matter where he was deployed, he just didn't hit the heights he was expected to.

This led to fans demanding that he was moved on and replaced with some of them even celebrating the fact that several clubs from across the world wanted to sign him.

However, during the World Cup, the Dutchman actually played quite well which left most fans rather confused.

So, until recently, it was unclear what the future had in store for the 27-year-old.

But, as per a fresh update from talkSPORT, it's now clear what Iraola wants to happen to the attacker.

"Cody Gakpo will either stay or, under the right circumstances, be sold at a premium," they wrote.

If Cody Gakpo leaves Liverpool, Richard Hughes needs to bolster their attack quickly

Before Gakpo packs his bags and leaves, it already feels like Liverpool are fairly short in attack.

Mohamed Salah has exited and, since Hugo Ekitike is out injured, they're already down in numbers.

Of course, Victor Munoz is an option for Liverpool but, since he's never played in the Premier League and only contributed to eight goals across all competitions last term, it's unclear whether the Spaniard will have much of an impact on Liverpool as they expect.

Excluding these players, Liverpool are left with Gakpo, Federico Chiesa, Rio Ngumoha and Alexander Isak as their attacking options.

Of course, some youngsters could end up being kept around but, if Liverpool want to start challenging for silverware again, they need to add some world-class talent to their ranks, especially if Gakpo exits.

Iraola's men have already been linked with a lot of attackers this summer but, since so many areas of their team still need to be upgraded, it's unclear what their transfer plans will be or whether they'll even manage to pull all the moves off that they need to.

Here's hoping that Liverpool get everything that they need to in line so that they can set out a proper plan to get back to the top of the table.