Joe Gomez was forced off injured in Liverpool's first game under Andoni Iraola.

Two centre-backs caught the eye of Liverpool's scouting department at the U17 World Cup in Qatar last November. Within weeks, the club spent a combined £3.5m on the pair: Senegal's Mor Talla Ndiaye and Austria's Ifeanyi Ndukwe. Under Matt Newberry, Liverpool's director of global talent, this was evidence of future planning in full flow.

Yet surely no-one inside the club would have expected the teenage duo to be the centre-back pairing for most of Liverpool's opening pre-season fixture. With Joe Gomez forced off by injury in the eighth minute against Sunderland, and neither Jeremy Jacquet or Giovanni Leoni fit to play still, Liverpool have a problem at the heart of their defence.

Looking at the long term is one thing, but they need reinforcements in the here and now. Even before the injury, new head coach Andoni Iraola said his squad was "very thin" defensively.

Gomez was absent from Liverpool's training session in Chicago on Sunday and an update on the severity of his injury is expected this week. He is Liverpool's longest-serving current player but has now missed 225 games because of injury, according to Transfermarkt, since signing from Charlton in 2015.

Virgil van Dijk is the club's only fit senior centre-back. The Liverpool captain is 35 and played every minute in the Premier League last season, but he is not the force that he used to be. The Dutchman, like Gomez, is also into the last year of his contract at Anfield. There is a possibility both players will move on next summer.

One of the reasons why Liverpool allowed Ibrahima Konate to leave on a free transfer and join Real Madrid was because they felt Jacquet, 21, and Leoni, 19, whose transfers weighed in at £60m and £26m respectively, were the best young centre-backs in France and Italy. Perhaps they will prove inspired signings, with Jacquet in line to make his debut against Leeds on Sunday.

Liverpool will give them every opportunity to fulfil their potential, but right now, just like Ndiaye and Ndukwe, both are far from the finished product.

"We need players. It's fairly obvious," former Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler told BBC Sport in New York, where the Reds take on Wrexham on Wednesday. "I'm very sad for Joe Gomez, who has been so unfortunate with injuries. This could have been a real chance to cement his place and for him to show that we don't need another centre-half.

"We've spent money on Jacquet and Leoni and the guidance that Joe and Virgil can give from their experience to the young lads is telling. "We won't see the best version of the young lads yet, but you do need that experience in the squad. And yes, the manager's been on record saying that we need players and I would not be surprised if another centre-half is in that conversation."

Is 'special talent' Jacquet the future of Liverpool's defence? From the outside, Liverpool's failure to seal a move for Marc Guehi last summer looks even more interesting now. They have a buyback clause with Jarell Quansah, who left for Bayer Leverkusen for £35m last July, but there are no current plans for Quansah to return.

Sources stress that if Liverpool bring in Bradley Barcola, who Paris St-Germain value in excess of £100m, then there will be limitations to what more they can do in the market. Deals for Jacquet and Victor Munoz have cost a combined £94.5m. Without any major outgoings from Iraola's squad, there is an understanding that this summer will not be like last summer when a club record £450m was spent.

Fowler, who scored 183 times for the Reds, said: "When you look at Liverpool across the last decade, one of the problems that we've had is that the first 11 is more than capable but the argument that people have is the squad depth.

"I'm a big believer in getting the squad right because it gives everyone a lift and keeps people on their toes, knowing that if you're not performing, someone else could do the job. "Go back to the days of Phil Neal and he'll tell you stories about how players would never want to get injured because they knew that if someone else came, they wouldn't get their place back.

"You need that mentality and I think that has a real knock-on effect on standards." In six months from last summer through to January 2026, Liverpool agreed deals for five centre-backs who were aged 20 or under at the time - Leoni, Ndiaye, Ndukwe, Noah Adekoya, and Jacquet. It is worth noting that Ndukwe, who was impressive against Sunderland, must go out on loan this year as he does not yet meet the criteria for a UK work permit.

The long-term potential of centre-backs is not a concern at Anfield. But experience is in short supply - a glaring gap in this Liverpool squad and one that needs to be addressed.

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