WSL 2026-27 preview No 9: Liverpool target a stronger start after summer rebuild
Liverpool feature in the No 9 preview of the Women’s Super League 2026-27, published on 29 August 2026, as the club looks to improve on a disappointing 2025-26 season. Guardian writers' predicted position: 8th (NB: this is not necessarily Tom Garry’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips); the side hope new signings Vivien Endemann and Mao Itamura can help generate a quicker start than last year.
After finishing 11th in 2025-26 there is renewed positivity at Liverpool following a strong summer transfer window and encouraging pre-season results that suggest an upgrade on last season’s final placing. Gareth Taylor took charge late last summer and had to rebuild the squad; this campaign he has been able to spend a full pre-season with his players. Managing director Andy O’Boyle has had three transfer windows since starting his job to evolve the squad.
Taylor remains a divisive figure among supporters but brings honours to the role, having won the Women’s FA Cup and the League Cup with Manchester City in 2020 and 2022 respectively, and coming close to a league title. He is a former Wales international striker whose playing career included spells at Bristol Rovers, Nottingham Forest and Wrexham, as well as time with Sheffield United and Manchester City.
Liverpool’s recruitment over the summer includes Germany forward Vivien Endemann from Wolfsburg and goalkeeper Khiara Keating, the latter reuniting with Taylor though she is not as experienced as Sweden’s Jennifer Falk. Falk was tremendous during a loan spell with Liverpool in the second half of last season but opted not to make her stay permanent because she wanted to be closer to family; there were other notable departures, including centre-back Gemma Bonner. Despite those losses, Liverpool appear to have a squad capable of avoiding relegation though they remain some distance from challenging for European places and their budget is dwarfed by the big spenders.
Endemann is 25 and arrives with a solid Bundesliga record and 17 caps for Germany; she helped the national team finish third at the 2024 Olympics. She won a German Cup with Wolfsburg in 2024 and brings Women’s Champions League experience to Liverpool’s forward line.
The club’s financial and training infrastructure were also noted: Liverpool have never really benefited from the type of cash injections from their owners, Fenway Sports Group (FSG), that Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City’s women’s sides have from theirs. Over the past eight seasons combined they have recorded an overall profit of more than £500,000 and consistently break even, and they train at the Melwood base, described as top-class facilities.
Liverpool’s form trend from last season offers encouragement: it took them until late January to record their first league win, but they earned 11 points more in the second half of the campaign than in the first—the widest margin of improvement in the Women’s Super League—and doubling their second-half tally would have produced 28 points, enough for sixth. The 20-year-old Japan youth international Mao Itamura has been signed from Feyenoord; she was named Eredivisie player of the year last season and is a versatile forward with great dribbling skills who should add a fresh dimension to Liverpool’s attack. “We want to be in the first half of the table because we have really good players and I think we can show what we are capable of. I believe in every single person in this team. We have good chances to have a great season. And we all have this good feeling; I can feel it in the training” – Liverpool and Switzerland forward Aurélie Csillag
Liverpool play the majority of their home matches at St Helens Stadium, which they share with the rugby league side and which has a capacity of about 18,000. They have announced three fixtures at Anfield this season, the first of those games being a derby against Everton in September, and they begin the WSL campaign away to promoted Charlton.