Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola has omitted Federico Chiesa and Wataru Endo from the club's 25-man List A squad for the upcoming Champions League league phase, as confirmed by official squad submissions reported by BBC Sport and ESPN. The decision has sparked intense speculation regarding the long-term Anfield futures of both senior players ahead of the January transfer window.
Squad limits and homegrown quotas force Iraola's hand
UEFA regulations dictate that clubs must limit their List A submission to 25 players, reserving at least eight spots for homegrown or "locally trained" players. Following the departure of midfielder Curtis Jones to Inter Milan, Liverpool faced a tight squeeze to meet these criteria. To accommodate those requirements, Iraola chose to leave out Chiesa, 28, and Endo, 33, while including injured trio Hugo Ekitike, Conor Bradley, and Giovanni Leoni.
Speaking on the Liverpool Echo, former defender Jamie Carragher remarked on the selection: "Liverpool have got two players in the squad who are never going to play. And there are all these quotas, you can only have 17 players and all that. They have got Chiesa and Endo. It’s like they are never going to kick a ball." Carragher added that Endo, whom he described as "a bit of a cult hero," probably "should have been moved on" previously.
Mounting transfer uncertainty ahead of January
Both players now face highly uncertain futures on Merseyside. Chiesa, who joined Liverpool from Juventus in August 2024, has struggled for regular game time, managing just a single Premier League start during the 2025-26 campaign. He is currently sidelined with a minor muscle and lower back issue, though he is expected to return to training during the September international break.
Endo's contract is expected to expire next summer, and the Japanese midfielder has yet to feature in the Premier League this term, remaining an unused substitute in Liverpool's first two league matches. While both players remain registered in the club's Premier League squad, their omission from European competition signals they have fallen significantly down the pecking order under Iraola, with academy graduates such as James McConnell preferred.
