Andoni Iraola, Head Coach of Liverpool during a training session at Endeavor Health Performance Center on July 21, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Nikki Dyer/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
Andoni Iraola, Head Coach of Liverpool during a training session at Endeavor Health Performance Center on July 21, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Nikki Dyer/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
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On the 10th floor of a plush hotel in Downtown Chicago, Andoni Iraola is reeling off the coaching influences that shaped the skillset that has taken him to the Liverpool dugout.
In eight years, the Basque coach has gone from overseeing games in the Cypriot league with AEK Larnaca to one of the biggest football institutions on earth at Anfield.
And despite sitting under the learning tree of vaunted names like Marcelo Bielsa and Vicente del Bosque, it is one in particular whose guiding hand has been most forceful in pushing the mild-mannered and unassuming Iraola to the level he now finds himself.
"If I have to choose one I always say Ernesto Valverde," Iraola says. "I had him when I was in the academy and he was the one who gave me the chance to play in the first team. I also had him towards the end of my Athletic Club career. I learned a lot from him.
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It's as simple as 1-2-3.
"Everyone asks me about Marcelo Bielsa. I also had some games with the national team under Vicente del Bosque. They were good managers. Even at the end of my career, playing for Patrick Vieira after I signed for New York City, he gave me a different perspective. But If I have to pick one then it's Valverde."
Valverde was under consideration two years ago when Liverpool were assessing candidates to replace Jurgen Klopp but his ignominious place in Anfield history is secure for being the Barcelona boss who presided over a 4-0 Champions League semi-final defeat seven years ago.
For Iraola, though, the Athletic Club legend left an indelible mark in a more positive sense. "I think it was his common sense," he says during a sit-down chat with a handful of media outlets on the club's pre-season tour of the United States.
"He never made problems bigger than they were. He always understood the players. He was very firm with the things he believed in. But how he treated the players, both those who were playing and those who weren't, I liked it a lot."
The influence of Spanish, Basque and Catalan coaches is inescapable at the elite level in 2026. Mikel Arteta, Luis Enrique and Unai Emery all oversaw sides who won the Premier League, Champions League and Europa League last season, while Luis de la Fuente added to his 2024 European Championship crown with Spain by winning the World Cup just last week.
The decision of Pep Guardiola to stand down after a decorated decade at Manchester City, in late May, only highlighted how ludicrously successful the Catalan coach was at the Etihad also.
For Iraola, as he takes the first tentative steps down what is hoped to be a similarly successful path at Anfield, that all bodes well. But his aggressive, front-footed approach - the strategy that secured him a two-year Liverpool contract - is not a typical Spanish style.
"There are a lot of different styles in Spanish coaching," he counters. "With the national team, they always say tiki-taka, passing, but even in the World Cup you could see them pressing very well, pressing high.
"Yes, they controlled the game with the ball, but it's the other part without the ball where everyone was doing their job. It's being proactive without the ball. They ask me a lot why a lot of Basque managers especially have arrived to this level and why a lot of Spanish teams are winning a lot of things.
"I always say that a sense of collectiveness is very important. Spain has never had the best athletes. If you analyse, in swimming, track and field, they don't normally win medals.
"But in collective sports they are very good. In football, basketball, handball, hockey. Normally they have good teams. We always put the team first.
"An example is someone like Rodri. He didn't score or make an assist but at the end they won the World Cup and he won best player of the tournament. Team first was always integrated in how we're raised."
Iraola will be hoping that his style of play will go some way towards tightening the frayed connection between the team and the fans after a difficult campaign last time out, when so much was questioned and a handful of final whistles were greeted by the rare sound of boos at Anfield.
That, the 44-year-old insists, is one of the first tasks he has in his new role, revealing: "I think the first thing is try to play well. I think football is what helps you more, but it’s not just only about playing well.
"This helps a lot but I think the supporters have to feel identified with what they see on the pitch. Sometimes it's not just about putting one ball in the top corner.
"A lot of times the ones watching the game are...OK, they cannot do it, but they can run, they can fight for the balls, they can press, they can fight until the last line for every situation and when they see this from the players of their team it’s easier to get behind that team. I will encourage my team to give them these things.
"The most important thing that we can deliver is our performances. It doesn't matter if I speak well, if I don't speak well, if I say the right things or if I don’t say the right things. At the end people just want to see the team play well and deliver good results. I know this is 90% of my job.
"For me, now, it is about creating a very good team to beat, a very difficult team to beat. The team that I envision now, that I see and think of, if we become that team, I think we are going to be successful."