Liverpool Officially Appoints Andoni Iraola as New Coach…

Liverpool have just announced the appointment of Andoni Iraola as their new coach on a two-year contract after the dismissal of Arne Slot. Iraola previously coached Bournemouth and is expected to bring a change to a more aggressive style of play.

Liverpool have officially appointed Andoni Iraola as the new coach on a two-year contract after the dismissal of Arne Slot. The announcement of Slot's dismissal was made on Saturday, one year after the Dutch coach led Liverpool to the Premier League title.

Iraola, who is 43 and previously served as Bournemouth coach, joins after leading the team to their best season in the Premier League with a sixth-placed finish. This position is only one level and three points behind Liverpool, which gives Bournemouth the opportunity to play in the Europa League next season.

The Spaniard announced in April that he would leave Bournemouth this summer and has been linked with Crystal Palace and AC Milan. Now, he has moved to Merseyside, where Liverpool have already booked a place in next season's Champions League despite finishing the Premier League season with 60 points, their lowest total since 2015-16 and 25 points adrift of winners Arsenal.

“I'm very excited, very excited,” Iraola said. "Because obviously you know about Liverpool, you know that it's a big club, a very big club, one of the biggest in the world. You don't need much to be interested in Liverpool. Liverpool is Liverpool."

He added: "I think Liverpool gave me the opportunity to train top players, and top players give you the opportunity to fight for titles. To win titles. Obviously when you arrive somewhere, you can't promise everything. You can't promise. But it's true that I understand where I'm coming from and what is expected. I'm ready for this challenge."

Iraola is expected to bring Tommy Elphick and Shaun Cooper, his assistants at Bournemouth, to Anfield as part of his coaching staff. The decision to sack Slot was taken by Michael Edwards, who is the football CEO of Fenway Sports Group, and Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes. They both decided that the club needed a more aggressive and urgent style of play.

Iraola was installed at Bournemouth when Hughes was technical director at the Cherries, a position he left in 2024 to join Liverpool. Former RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund coach Marco Rose has been confirmed as Iraola's replacement at Bournemouth.

Liverpool spent £415m last summer to sign six players - the highest spend in a single window by an English club - in a bid to retain their league title. They broke the British transfer record to sign striker Alexander Isak from Newcastle for £125 million and also bought Bayer Leverkusen and Germany playmaker Florian Wirtz for £116 million. Further news will follow.