How hard-running Lewis Koumas has given Liverpool’s expensive forwards no excuse

Andoni Iraola has picked the most expensive attack in the history of English football in the last week. He has also singled out a forward for praise, for setting the standards, for acting as a leader. “The energy he shows is contagious for the rest,” the Liverpool manager said. “When you see the runs upfront, giving everything, you are kind of forced to go behind and use the same intensity levels.”

Yet the player he hailed was not the £125m Alexander Isak, the £116m Florian Wirtz or the £123m Bradley Barcola. A footballer who cost Liverpool nothing, who spent last season in the Championship and whose appearances in the second division generally came off the bench lit up Anfield on Tuesday; not in the way Dominik Szoboszlai did, with a stunning strike, or Alexis Mac Allister and Cody Gakpo, with fine goals of their own in their Carabao Cup win over Tottenham.

But the man-of-the-match award went to Lewis Koumas; if Iraola had been the judge, the recipient might have been the same. The 20-year-old led the press. “A lot of it is about what I do off the ball,” said the forward. “The gaffer has shown trust to me that I can carry out his plans in terms of how we want to play tactically. I was happy to do that for him.”

Iraola had wanted to see more running from his attack in the lacklustre draw against Fulham. The Basque had been brought in to try and restore the identity Liverpool had under Jurgen Klopp, to rebuild the bond with the fans. The Spurs game, with his frantic feel, stirring entertainment and uplifting end, had the air of an evening early in Klopp’s reign.

“I think how I play is ultimately the Liverpool Way,” said Koumas. “We've always been a club where players have to give absolutely everything on the pitch. We're bringing that back now and the crowd are loving it.”

For now, it may make Koumas a symbolic player for Iraola, a role model to costlier colleagues. The Liverpool manager wants industry in attack. He has found a willing worker. For now, too, he seems to have found an answer to Liverpool’s shortage of players. Isak is the only fit specialist striker, with Hugo Ekitike and Federico Chiesa injured. In the short term, anyway, Koumas is filling a void, in a way few envisaged; perhaps not even him.

Iraola had intervened to block suggestions Koumas would be loaned out for a fourth time. He went to Stoke for the 2024-25 season and then spent last year with first Birmingham and then Hull. It was not a conspicuously successful campaign, even though the Tigers got promotion. He started 11 league games, came off the bench in 29 more and scored four goals.

But it was a learning process. “The past two years have been massive for my development,” the 20-year-old said. “Going out on loan helped me to become the player I am today. I was able to impress the new manager in pre-season and it's all worked out well."

Koumas’ Liverpool debut had come in February 2024, during an injury-crisis. He scored for Klopp’s side in an FA Cup win over Southampton. He had to wait two-and-a-half years for his second appearance. No wonder, then, that he rationalised: “You never know when your last time on the pitch for Liverpool is going to be. I just try to leave everything out there every time.”

But after that long wait for a second game, the milestones have come: a Premier League debut at Newcastle, a Champions League debut against Atletico Madrid. “I would have thought I was dreaming,” said Koumas. “It's crazy. But I'm just really happy and very grateful for the opportunities I've been given."

He grew up admiring Gareth Bale, a fellow Wales international, and Michael Owen, a former teammate of his father’s in Liverpool’s academy. His career comes in the context of being Jason Koumas’ son; an enigmatic talent who showed brilliance at times for West Bromwich Albion, Cardiff, Tranmere and Wales but whose considerable talent was rarely seen in the Premier League.

The younger Koumas seems equipped with the right attitude. Take the running that has endeared him to Iraola. “It's definitely something the manager is trying to instil but it's also me through and through,” he said. It symbolises his determination. “A lot of hunger can be lost in the game with how things go,” Koumas said.

“But for me coming through the pre-academy and right through the academy, my hunger has always been there. I never showed a weak mentality about how the future would look for me at Liverpool. I always had the drive that I would get here. The reason for going out on loan was to prepare for this moment. It all sort of worked out.”