Liverpool have announced the appointment of former Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola as their new manager following the sacking of Arne Slot
Liverpool have announced the appointment of Andoni Iraola as the club’s new manager.
The 43-year-old Spaniard will replace Arne Slot in the Anfield hot seat after the Dutchman was sacked just under a week after the 2025/26 season finished. Iraola left Bournemouth at the end of the season after guiding the Cherries to a 6th place finish and a Europa League spot, the first in the club’s history, after finishing just three points behind the Reds.
Shortly after it was announced that Slot had lost his job, Iraola became the firm favourite to land the job. The former Rayo Vallecano boss’ representatives held talks with Crystal Palace and AC Milan about their vacant positions before Liverpool made their move.
JOIN US ON FB! Get all the best sports news and much more on our Facebook page
Iraola has reportedly signed a three-year contract with the option of a further 12 months. In a statement, the Iraola said: “Really excited, really excited. Because obviously you know about Liverpool, you know that it’s a big club, a massive club, one of the biggest in the world.
“But feeling inside and understanding a little bit more of this club, I always thought it’s a special club. You don’t need a lot of things to get attracted by Liverpool. Liverpool is Liverpool.
“But obviously the atmosphere, the supporters, the club, the players, the chance for me to coach top-level players, the chance to fight for titles. I think it cannot be more attractive than this. It’s difficult to find it. So, really excited to start.””.
Sporting director Hughes is a huge fan of Iraola having pushed for him to be appointed by the Cherries in his previous role as technical director.
Bournemouth owner Bill Foley previously commented on Hughes’ support for Iraola: “It was really a style of play that we were engaging in. We were really a counter-attacking team. I felt we needed to be on the offence. We needed to be aggressive, we needed to attack. That’s Andoni’s style. He’s a [Marcelo] Bielsa student and fast-paced.
“When we had the opportunity, it came to us from Richard Hughes, our technical director. He came to myself and to Neill Blake, the CEO, and then we started talking about it. I said ‘if we don’t do this now, we may never have the chance to do this again’.”
More to follow…
This is a breaking sports story and is being constantly updated with the latest news, pictures and videos. Please refresh the page regularly.
You can also get email updates on the day’s biggest sports stories straight to your inbox by signing up for our sports newsletter.
Get all the very best sports news, pictures, opinion and video by following Daily Star every time you see our name.
Follow Daily Star on Google News – CLICK HERE and click the star
Follow Daily Star on Apple News – CLICK HERE available on Apple devices
Follow Daily Star on Flipboard – CLICK HERE and click follow You can also sign up for Twitter alerts for breaking news by following @DailyStar_Sport and follow us @dailystar for all the latest updates.
Keep up-to-date with your must-see sports stories, features, videos and pictures throughout the day by following us on Facebook at Daily Star Football | London