Who is Andoni Iraola? All about ex-Bournemouth boss tipped for Liverpool manager job

A year on from leading the club to a record-equalling 20th English title, Liverpool have sacked head coach Arne Slot.

Despite a huge summer outlay in the transfer market, including the British record arrivals of Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak, the Reds fell well short of the levels they hit in 2024/25 and ended the campaign without a trophy.

Liverpool did at least limp to a fifth-place finish to claim the final Champions League qualification spot on offer, but repeated listless performances forced the board to make a decision.

"The conclusion we have come to is built on a belief that the team’s trajectory is best addressed through a change of direction," a club statement read. "That does not diminish the work Arne has done here, or the respect we have for him. Nor is it a reflection of his talents. Rather, it is indicative of the need for a different approach."

No sooner had the news of Slot's demise broken than Andoni Iraola was being widely touted as the man to oversee this change of approach. According to BBC Sport, Liverpool have already sought out the former Bournemouth boss for talks.

MORE: Why did Liverpool sack Arne Slot? How Premier League title-winning manager lost Reds trust

Who is Andoni Iraola?

Iraola is a product of the footballing hotbed of Gipuzkoa in Spain's autonomous Basque Country. He played for the same Atinguoko youth team as Mikel Arteta and Xabi Alonso – two men he could feasibly be contesting the Premier League title against next season.

After graduating through Athletic Club's youth categories, Iraola made his senior debut in August 2003. Across 12 seasons, he racked up 510 appearances for the Bilbao giants, never playing fewer than 30 La Liga matches in a single campaign.

He won seven caps for Spain during a golden period for the national team and also represented the Basque Country on nine occasions.

Iraola spent the final year of his playing career in MLS, representing New York City and indulging his NFL fandom, before turning his attention towards coaching.

He made a false start at Cypriot club AEK Larnaca, where he was sacked in January 2019 after a winless run of two months during his first season at the helm. Iraola returned to Spain to take over newly promoted Segunda Division side Mirandes for the 2019/20 season. 

An 11th-place finish was creditable, but Mirandes' run to the semifinals of the Copa del Rey as they disposed of Celta Vigo, Sevilla and Villarreal, truly marked out Iraola as a coach to watch.

He joined Rayo Vallecano in summer 2020, replacing Paco Jemez, a coach famous for his unflinching attacking approach. Iraola led the Madrid club to promotion to La Liga in his first season.

A pair of mid-table finishes, where Iraola refused to compromise on his style, and another run to the Copa del Rey semifinals meant Premier League teams took note. According to BBC Sport, Leeds United had an approach for Iraola knocked back in 2023 as they fought unsuccessfully against relegation.

Iraola left Rayo at the end of his contract that summer and moved to Bournemouth. After a rocky start, he excelled on England's south coast. The Cherries finished high in each of Iraola's seasons, going from 12th to ninth before securing Europa League football in 2025/26 with a sixth-place finish – just a place and three points behind Liverpool.

Bournemouth's success this season came despite losing key men Dean Huijsen, Milos Kerkez, Illia Zabarnyi and Dango Ouattara during the summer 2025 transfer market. They then sold top scorer Antoine Semenyo to Manchester City in January. Semenyo scored the winning goal against Tottenham on his final appearance, a 3-2 victory that remarkably started an unbroken 19-match unbeaten run until the end of the season. That included a win over Liverpool at the Vitality Stadium by the same scoreline. 

MORE: From Arteta and Iraola to Emery and Lillo: How smallest Spanish province Gipuzkoa is shaping Premier League

Andoni Iraola tactics, style of play

Iraola wears his football origins prominently. At Athletic, he played under the great Marcelo Bielsa and favours high-intensity, high pressing football. The best teams from Bilbao were also famed for their rugged physicality on the pitch and that aggression and willingness to fight have certainly been hallmarks of his Bournemouth.

He typically played a 4-2-3-1 system, but this flips into a 3-2-5 in possession. Both full-backs are tasked with providing attacking width as a holding midfield slot in between the two centre-backs.

Although Iraola encourages his teams to build from the back, he is happy to give his goalkeepers and centre-backs the freedom to go long when required. The speed at which his teams seek to reach the opposition's final third is something that puts him on the cutting edge of contemporary Premier League tactics.

Bournemouth's press has also displayed serious teeth. Iraola operates a hybrid press, which starts off in a zonal structure before jumping into man-to-man high pressing when the ball is forced to one side of the pitch. In and out of possession, Iraola places an emphasis on the number of sprints and high-intensity runs his players are able to produce.

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Is Andoni Iraola a good coach for Liverpool?

Mohamed Salah's incendiary social media post following the May defeat to Aston Villa, where he evoked Jurgen Klopp by mentioning a "heavy metal" style of football, will now be part of the story of Slot's demise. 

The departing superstar forward did not outright call for Slot to be sacked, but he came as close as anyone in his position might. The Liverpool board ultimately agreed with him and want a change of style.

The high-energy, high-pressing style Iraola deploys makes his appeal for a club understandably still in thrall to Klopp obvious, even though he has no direct links to the German tactician.

A more significant link might be his relationship with Anfield sporting director Richard Hughes, with whom Iraola worked alongside at Bournemouth. Milos Kerkez had a tough first season on Merseyside and will surely be delighted to see his old Cherries boss at the AXA Training Centre.

Iraola is an outstanding coach who carries obvious appeal for Liverpool, but there are a couple of reasons for trepidation.

First, there is the broad trend of coaches from overachieving mid-level clubs in the Premier League getting deserved plaudits before tanking in one of the big jobs. Graham Potter at Chelsea and Thomas Frank at Tottenham spring instantly to mind.

Secondly, Iraola's style might appeal more to the Liverpool fanbase than it does to the current playing squad. The drop in intensity when compared to the peak Klopp years was staggering this season. Slot's side were too passive and too easy to play through. The Fenway Sports Group will have to dip into the transfer market once again if Iraola is to realise his vision, despite last summer's record outlay.

While Salah and others continue to reference "heavy metal football", Klopp's Liverpool truly hit the heights when they added lower gears from the 2018/19 season onwards. Iraola will be aware that he has to demonstrate more strings to his bow at Anfield. 

Bournemouth's superb end to this season, after falling away in each of the previous two, gave encouraging signs that he is tempering his all-out approach so as not to leave players running on empty. This is perhaps the most important Klopp trait to find a way to emulate.