From the moment Liverpool announced that the club was parting ways with Arne Slot after a disappointing 2025-26, all eyes were on Andoni Iraola, the Basque protege of Marcelo Bielsa who days earlier had stepped down as Bournemouth’s manager and whom everyone expected to move into a bigger job this summer.
Informed speculation soon turned to briefed confirmations of interest from the club before role and contract talks began to be reported as under way over the weekend. Now, those have turned into
reports that terms are in place between Iraola and the club and work has now turned to finalizing the backroom staff for the new manager.
Tommy Elphick and Shaun Cooper, a pair of Iraola assistants at Bournemouth, are the only staff members that he is expected to bring with him to Liverpool, with a largely new team set to be formed to support Iraola. On that front, one of the focuses of speculation has been on former Liverpool midfielder Thiago Alcantara.
Thiago recently announced he was leaving Barcelona after a year as an assistant to Hansi Flick. There has also been speculation surrounding James Milner following his retirement announcement, and reports have claimed there is likely to be at least one former Liverpool joining Iraola’s coaching team when he is unveiled.
