Liverpool set to appoint Andoni Iraola after Arne Slot sacking

Liverpool have moved quickly to line up Andoni Iraola as their next head coach, reaching a verbal agreement with the Bournemouth manager and preparing a two-year contract. An official announcement is expected by the end of the week, less than a week after Arne Slot was sacked following a season that ended with Liverpool fifth in the Premier League.

The logic is clear. Liverpool’s hierarchy wants a more aggressive, front-footed team, and Iraola has built his reputation on exactly that kind of intensity. Richard Hughes is leading the appointment process and knows the Spaniard well, having previously appointed him at Bournemouth in 2023 before later joining Liverpool. That familiarity has helped push Iraola to the front of the queue, but it also raises the stakes: this is not just a change of coach, it is a reset in how Liverpool expect to play.

Slot’s departure closes an abrupt chapter. He won the Premier League in his first season at Anfield in 2024-25, but Liverpool fell away to fifth this season and the club decided the decline was too steep to ignore. Iraola arrives, if the move is completed as expected, with a very different profile from a short-list of more obvious celebrity appointments. The fit is less about status than style, and Liverpool are betting that Bournemouth’s energy, pressing and speed of transition can be scaled up to Anfield.

Iraola’s record at Bournemouth gives Liverpool a concrete reason for optimism. He took the club to sixth place and Europa League qualification, and Bournemouth finished just three points behind Liverpool after an 18-game unbeaten run in the second half of the 2025-26 Premier League season. Those numbers matter because they suggest a coach who can raise a ceiling quickly, organise a team without long bedding-in periods and keep results stable over a long stretch.

The harder question is whether that approach solves Liverpool’s immediate problems. At Bournemouth, Iraola worked in a setting where a high-energy style could unsettle opponents. At Liverpool, the same model will be judged against bigger expectations, tighter margins and a fan base that has already seen one title-winning coach moved on after a drop in league position. Year one will likely be measured less by silverware than by whether Liverpool regain a reliable top-four level, sharpen their pressing and look like a side that controls matches from the first whistle.

There is already a split in how the move is viewed. Danny Murphy has questioned whether Iraola has enough experience managing a big club, while Steven Gerrard has backed the appointment, saying Iraola has done a fabulous job at Bournemouth and that his style would suit Liverpool. The club is also considering whether to add a former player to the coaching staff, although no approaches have been made, and Iraola may want to bring Pablo de la Torre, Tommy Elphick, Shaun Cooper and Tom Webber with him.