The new Liverpool head coach could have become a Red back when he was a player, years before he replaced Arne Slot in the dugout
Andoni Iraola
Andoni Iraola(Image: Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
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Andoni Iraola's whirlwind Liverpool appointment may have been wrapped up in a matter of days, but it came over a decade after the Basque boss could have made the move to Anfield.
Reds sporting director Richard Hughes moved quickly to secure Iraola in early June, and Liverpool officially appointed him less than a week after Arne Slot was taken out of the firing line.
Talks with Crystal Palace and AC Milan yielded little and there was interest from Bayer Leverkusen before Liverpool - and the man who brought him to England as Bournemouth boss, Hughes - came calling.
"It was actually all quite fast," says Iraola. "Honestly, yes it was true that I was talking with some clubs, I think it was the first or second week after the season ended. But it happened quite fast. They contacted me, and it didn’t take a lot [to say yes].
"The process with Bournemouth was very, very clean. I still have a very, very good relationship with everyone there. We decided to announce it when it was good for both sides.
"They knew sometime before. I decided not to make any decision before the season finished. We were fighting for European places, we were fighting for the Champions League in the last game of the season. I didn’t want to spend time thinking about what I was doing before the season ended. Only then I started to think: 'Ok what is next?' That is when I had my plan."
If Liverpool had their way, the association with the new boss would have started a lot earlier than the summer of 2026. It was in late 2013, under Brendan Rodgers, when the Reds were looking to add some experienced defensive cover to their squad. Their recruitment drive took them to Iraola, then a versatile, home-grown hero of Athletic.
After making contact with the player's camp, recruitment chief Julian Ward then made the journey to watch Iraola captain Athletic to victory away to Malaga before Liverpool were eventually thwarted.
After opting to stay with his boyhood club, who he speaks about with the kind of reverence many on the Kop would do about Liverpool, Iraola penned his admirers a letter to thank them for their interest while outlining exactly why the agonising decision to leave Athletic ultimately culminated in him staying put.
Despite having their hopes dashed, Liverpool's lines of communication were established and when the decision came to reluctantly relieve Slot of his duties at the end of May, it was no real shock that free agent Iraola quickly succeeded the Dutchman following a successful spell at Bournemouth, where had guided them to their highest-ever Premier League finish of sixth, securing European football for the first time in their history in the process.
On the contents of the letter sent to Liverpool some 13 years ago, Iraola is evasive, clearly feeling the topic should remain off limits during an engaging 45 minutes in his company in Chicago.
"I don't know if I want to tell you this story this early in my career," he says. "I would like to win some games and have more time before I tell this amazing story. I wouldn't like to use it this early. It will look like I am selling myself. We need some time, to win some games.
"If you remind me in some months, I will tell it but I don't want to go into it right now. Look, it is a nice story but if you remember me in some months, you can ask me again."
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