Liverpool's Transfer Window: Injury Returns and Squad Depth
Liverpool’s transfer window closed with more questions than answers. No right-sided winger. No extra midfielder. No new right-back. A squad “locked in”, yes – but hardly locked down.
Behind the scenes, though, the real story is not about who didn’t arrive. It’s about who might finally be coming back.
According to The Times, Liverpool expect Hugo Ekitike, Giovanni Leoni and Conor Bradley to play a “chunk” of the season. For a club that spent deadline day probing Chelsea over a loan for Malo Gusto and got nowhere, that single word – “chunk” – suddenly carries real weight.
A thin squad and a long wait
Liverpool’s search for cover told its own tale. The late move for Gusto, a player capable of operating both at right-back and in midfield, underlined how stretched Arne Slot’s options have become on that side of the pitch. Chelsea’s refusal to entertain a cheap loan left the Reds exactly where they started: short in key areas and forced to look inward.
So the club turns to the treatment room.
All three of Ekitike, Leoni and Bradley have been out for extended periods. Ekitike, the most recent casualty, has still been missing since April. Bradley has not featured since the turn of the year. Leoni’s absence dates back to last September – close to a full year on the sidelines.
These are not niggles. They are serious injuries, the kind that blur timelines and erode certainty. Liverpool have kept expectations deliberately vague, aware that the first appearance back on the pitch will be just one step in a longer journey. No one inside the club expects any of them to hit full throttle immediately.
That is what makes The Times’ line about each playing a “chunk” of the campaign so striking. It suggests not a token cameo here and there, but at least a meaningful spell of involvement. A month or more apiece, perhaps significantly longer for one or two, would change the complexion of a threadbare squad.
Leoni close, Ekitike later
Of the three, Leoni appears closest to a return. Liverpool expect him back in contention soon, though they will not rush him. After such a long lay-off, caution will rule. The plan is to ease him in, not throw him straight into the chaos of a packed schedule.
Ekitike’s wait looks longer. His comeback is likely to sit nearer Christmas, but the expectation remains that he will still have a role to play before the season is out. Given how long he has been missing, simply having him available for selection in 2026 would feel like a step forward.
Bradley, the great unknown
Then there is Bradley. The wild card.
Information on his condition has been scarce. Updates have been infrequent and unclear, and there is still no firm public grasp on the precise nature of his problem or a definitive recovery date. For supporters, the silence has been as worrying as the injury itself.
Liverpool’s late push for a right-back did little to ease those concerns. When a club scours the market for cover in your position, it rarely screams confidence about your short-term availability.
Yet The Times’ suggestion that Bradley could still feature for a chunk of the season cuts through that gloom. It hints at progress behind closed doors, at rehabilitation that might finally be turning in the right direction.
For a squad that has had to “make do” after a quiet window, those three returns will feel less like routine reinforcements and more like new signings walking back through the door. The question now is not whether Liverpool need them.
It’s how much of this season they can still help to save.
