{"id":713852,"date":"2026-07-27T16:18:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T16:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/713852\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T16:18:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T16:18:12","slug":"liverpool-premier-league-legend-open-to-joining-as-iraola-demands-signing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/713852\/","title":{"rendered":"Liverpool: Premier League legend ‘open’ to joining as Iraola demands signing"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the Premier League\u2019s greatest ever defenders is open to joining Liverpool<\/a> and he\u2019s an \u2018especially attractive\u2019 option for Andoni Iraola who has requested a new signing at the back.<\/p>\n

Most of the transfer headlines at Liverpool<\/a> right now revolve around the wing positions. The Reds are going all out for Bradley Barcola, and the PSG ace is open to moving to Anfield if Liverpool and PSG strike a club-to-club agreement.<\/p>\n

However, it\u2019s not gone unnoticed by new boss Iraola how thin Liverpool are at the back.<\/p>\n

At right-back, there\u2019s Jeremie Frimpong and Conor Bradley. The former is more of a wing-back, and the latter is injured.<\/p>\n

At centre-back, Virgil van Dijk is in his mid-30s, Joe Gomez is injury-prone, Giovanni Leoni and Jeremy Jacquet are young and inexperienced.<\/p>\n

At left-back Milos Kerkez is the undisputed number one at left-back, with his primary back-up, Kostas Tsimikas, a rather underwhelming option.<\/p>\n

Accordingly, and with Gomez already picking up an injury in pre-season, our colleagues over on TEAMtalk have brought news of Iraola demanding FSG provide him with a new defender<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Two options are coming under consideration right now \u2013 John Stones<\/a> and Ezri Konsa<\/a>. Of the two, it\u2019s Stones who is viewed as the \u2018especially attractive\u2019 option, per the report.<\/p>\n

Liverpool considering signing John Stones, but competition fierce<\/p>\n

Stones left Manchester City via free agency on June 30, though at the World Cup, he provided a timely reminder of the elite level he operates at when fit.<\/p>\n

During his decade-long stint at the Etihad, Stones helped City become the dominant force in England, lifting six Premier League titles along the way.<\/p>\n

However, the fact he only made 180 appearances out of a possible 380 in that span highlights the gamble Liverpool would be taking. Like Gomez, Stones is injury-prone.<\/p>\n

TEAMtalk stressed the veteran centre-back is \u2018open\u2019 to discussing a switch to Anfield, though as you might expect given the potential coup that\u2019s to be had here, competition is fierce.<\/p>\n

MORE LIVERPOOL COVERAGE ON F365\u2026
* Transfer rumour ranking: Liverpool leading Barcola race despite obvious stumbling block<\/a>
* Liverpool eye Everton star as Barcola alternative as target \u2018wants to join\u2019 another club<\/a>
* PSG forward\u2019s camp pushing transfer to Liverpool \u2013 it\u2019s NOT Bradley Barcola<\/a><\/p>\n

The piece\u2019s author, Graeme Bailey, stated Arsenal and Chelsea have held conversations with the player\u2019s camp already.<\/p>\n

That piece of information was subsequently echoed by transfer guru Fabrizio Romano when taking to X.<\/p>\n

On Monday afternoon, he wrote<\/a>: \u2018Inter and Juventus are both in talks with John Stones\u2019 camp over potential free transfer.<\/p>\n

\u2018Negotiations are taking place this week with Stones open to Italy as next destination.<\/p>\n

\u2018Chelsea and Arsenal made approaches too; up to Stones.\u2019<\/p>\n

If Liverpool are to bring one of the Premier League\u2019s greatest ever defenders on board, they\u2019ll have to act both quickly and decisively.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the Premier League\u2019s greatest ever defenders is open to joining Liverpool and he\u2019s an \u2018especially attractive\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":624624,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[2604,55532,218,448,348,62236,708,399,50,221,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-713852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-aston-villa","tag-ezri-konsa","tag-football","tag-front-page","tag-home-page","tag-john-stones","tag-liverpool","tag-manchester-city","tag-news","tag-premier-league","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=713852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=713852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=713852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=713852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}