Chiesa and Endo out of Liverpool’s Champions League squad, what does this mean for the duo?

Liverpool’s 25-man Champions League squad was announced on 3rd September 2026, ahead of the first League stage fixtures to be held between 8th September – 11th September, 2026. While most of the expected players were included, the omission of two names have really raised a lot of questions for the Liverpool fans, that of Italian winger Federico Chiesa and Japanese midfielder Wataru Endo who have both failed to make the cut. 

As per UEFA Rules, every club has to include at least eight locally trained players and to do so Liverpool head-coach Andoni Iraola had to take the tough decision of keeping two experienced players out. 

As per Champions League’s Official website, Liverpool’s 25-man squad is mentioned below – 

Goalkeepers: Alisson Becker, Giorgi Mamardashvili, Freddie Woodman and Vítezslav Jaros

Defenders: Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez, Ronald Araújo, Jérémy Jacquet, Giovanni Leoni, Conor Bradley, Milos Kerkez, Kostas Tsimikas, Jeremie Frimpong, Luke Chambers and Isaac Mabaya 

Midfielders: Dominic Szoboszlai, Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister, Victor Muñoz, Florian Wirtz, and James McConnell

Forwards: Alexander Isak, Hugo Ekitiké, Bradley Barcola and Cody Gakpo.

Wataru Endo suffered a serious injury before the World Cup which also saw him miss the competition while Chiesa has been in and out of the matchday squads due to injury or illness issues, specifying fitness-related problems. 

It seems like head-coach Andoni Iraola prefers to use the younger players instead of both Endo and Chiesa. With Barcola joining the club in a big money transfer, we are all aware that he is a nailed-on starter at the left-wing position for Liverpool with Gakpo or Muñoz to rotate on the right wing since Liverpool wasn’t able to secure a right winger replacement for the talismanic Mohamed Salah in the summer window. 

So now there are two questions that are troubling the minds of the Liverpool fans after looking at this squad announcement. Firstly, what does this mean for both Chiesa and Endo’s future at Liverpool? and secondly, if they were deemed surplus to requirements why didn’t the club try to sell them and get in the required reinforcements? 

These are both complex questions and while we can try to answer them, the real answers would lie with the Liverpool management and the head-coach Andoni Iraola. First of all, three players from that announced squad – Ekitike, Conor Bradley and Leoni are still recovering from long-term injuries with imminent return date not known. Knowing that, Iraola still decided to keep them in the squad reflects the coach’s lack of belief in the two players to carry out the style of play he demands. We have all seen Iraola-ball at Bournemouth and know that he demands a lot of energy and intensity from his midfielders and forwards and he doesn’t believe that Chiesa and Endo can offer that. Also, Endo is an ageing player and both of them haven’t really played many games over the past two seasons to have any kind of momentum or fitness to play big Champions League games against top European clubs. 

Coming to the second question, if the new coach didn’t want to include them in the UCL squad this season, why didn’t Liverpool sell them in the summer and get a few reinforcements? 

This is a tricky one as we do not know what happens behind the scenes at the club but according to Liverpool-based journalist Paul Joyce, the club are looking to add quality instead of quantity and would only target high profile targets who they feel will make an instant impact rather than signing a squad player.  Another reliable journalist David Ornstein mentioned that Liverpool was reluctant to make a midfield signing in the summer due to Alexis Mac Allister not leaving this summer. Hence, Endo wasn’t sold as they needed squad depth due to the departure of Curtis Jones . As for Chiesa’s preferred Left-wing position, Liverpool does have Barcola, Gakpo and Rio Ngumoha as the primed starters but Chiesa could play on the right wing as well and Liverpool’s failure to secure a right-wing replacement for Salah could be a reason to have Chiesa as one of the stop-gap options in few of the less critical fixtures. 

Also, the reason to still keep hold of them could be that Liverpool will participate in two domestic cups as well apart from the Premier League and the Champions League. Chiesa and Endo have both played their part in cup competitions and as a substitute in a few Premier League matches as well. Injuries to key players should also be expected over a long season and therefore, having experienced players on the bench becomes a necessity. For these reasons, we believe Liverpool has decided to keep them in the squad until the January window or next summer. 

For the long-term though, it’s believed that  their future is elsewhere as Iraola would like to bring in the kind of players who could bring more quality, intensity and agility to the squad. That’s why we feel this omission is a clear indication that both Endo and Chiesa are not part of the plan and could most likely depart Anfield next summer.