Verbal agreement in place between Liverpool and Andoni Iraola

David Ornstein of The Athletic claims that Liverpool and Andoni Iraola have reached a verbal agreement for the Basque manager to become the club’s new head coach.

The move comes together incredibly fast following Arne Slot’s sacking over the weekend after an underwhelming 5th-place finish.

Two year deal

Iraola is poised to sign a two-year deal, keeping in line with the short-term contract lengths he famously prefers and operated under at Bournemouth.

The deal was heavily accelerated by Liverpool’s sporting director, Richard Hughes who is the same executive who originally brought Iraola to the Premier League at Bournemouth back in 2023, and the duo maintains an excellent working relationship.

The former Rayo Vallecano boss has already laid out his first major demands, verbally arranging to bring four key members of his trusted Bournemouth staff to Anfield with him: assistant Tommy Elphick, Shaun Cooper, analyst Tom Webber, and fitness coach Pablo de la Torre.

Because Iraola is a free agent after letting his contract expire at Bournemouth (where he just capped off a historic season finishing 6th), there is no complex compensation package to untangle. The Reds want the deal entirely finalized and officially announced before the end of this week, well ahead of the 2026 World Cup which kickoffs on June 11.

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