diff --git a/changelog.d/11010.misc b/changelog.d/11010.misc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..9a765435dbe4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/11010.misc
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Clean up some of the federation event authentication code for clarity.
diff --git a/synapse/handlers/federation_event.py b/synapse/handlers/federation_event.py
index 243be46267cd..d6bf2e410bac 100644
--- a/synapse/handlers/federation_event.py
+++ b/synapse/handlers/federation_event.py
@@ -1158,7 +1158,10 @@ async def _auth_and_persist_fetched_events(
                 return
 
             logger.info(
-                "Persisting %i of %i remaining events", len(roots), len(event_map)
+                "Persisting %i of %i remaining outliers: %s",
+                len(roots),
+                len(event_map),
+                shortstr(e.event_id for e in roots),
             )
 
             await self._auth_and_persist_fetched_events_inner(origin, room_id, roots)