**_LONDON_**: Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola will leave the club at the end of the season and is favourite to return ‘home’ to Bilbao to replace departing Ernesto Valverde.
The 43-year-old Spaniard, who made more than 400 appearances in 12 years as a player in Bilbao, joined the Cherries in 2023, guiding them to 12th and ninth in his first full two seasons on the south coast. Bournemouth are 11th this season, three points behind sixth-placed Chelsea with six matches to play.
Iraola’s contract is due to expire this summer and talks over a new deal were unsuccessful.
He has done an outstanding job at Bournemouth since chairman Bill Foley made the surprise decision to sack the well-regarded Gary O’Neil and replace him with Iraola in June 2023.
The list of clubs seeking new managers, or pondering the futures of those they currently employ, could make this a non-stop summer of managerial conjecture involving those from the top right down to the bottom.
The highest number of changes – based on the manager being different for the first Premier League game from the final match of the previous campaign, and excluding newly promoted teams – is seven in 2015-16 and 2016-17.
At the start of last season, Thomas Frank at Tottenham Hotspur and Keith Andrews, who succeeded him at Brentford, were the only two “new” managers on the opening weekend.
This summer looks like it will be in sharp contrast.
Iraola has been on a list of targets considered by Crystal Palace, who will need a new manager when Oliver Glasner leaves at the end of this season.
It would have been a coup for Palace to land Iraola, but – if he does return to Spain – their sights are likely to turn to Frank, sacked by Spurs in February after only eight months in charge.
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