Andoni Iraola needs to show coaching trait that got him Liverpool job for Reds to succeed

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Liverpool were given around six months notice by Jurgen Klopp before their search for a successor took them to the Rotterdam offices of Arne Slot in 2024.With the then boss having told owners Fenway Sports Group of his intentions in November 2023, the club's leadership team had enough time to plan and plot a way out of the enormous shadow cast by the uniquely charismatic Klopp during his nine years on Merseyside.An exhaustive search left no stone unturned in their pursuit of replacement following a hugely successful period for the club and Feyenoord coach Slot finished on top of most metrics during the fiercely data-led process.On top of the raw numbers, the graphs and the spider diagrams, character references were also sought from as many contacts as possible and, at one point, FSG's technical director Julian Ward was dispatched to the Netherlands to observe Slot up close, using the pretext that he was merely studying how different clubs operate across European football.Ward's clandestine, fact-finding mission only emboldened Liverpool's belief that Slot was the right candidate for the job. And by the time Klopp was in his final day, in May 2024, he was on the Anfield turf singing the name of the man who was replacing him.Two years later, Liverpool didn't have the luxury of time to effectively plan for the departure of Slot, who was sacked in surprise circumstances on the morning of Saturday May 30.And while it is insisted other candidates were assessed, the speed at which Andoni Iraola replaced the jettisoned Slot was breakneck.In short, Liverpool did not have nearly the same timeframe they had for their previous recruitment drive and Iraola ticked so many boxes for the club, particularly for sporting director Richard Hughes, who brought him to the Premier League during their time together at Bournemouth.The fact Iraola was not tethered to a contract somewhere else was likely an important factor at a time when the club wanted to make an appointment before the World Cup.

However, Bournemouth's progress under his management was also undeniably impressive.One of the key factors Liverpool identified as being transferrable to the top job at Anfield was how Iraola was able to coach and improve a number of forward players during his time at the Vitality.Eli Junior Kroupi, for example, went from playing in France's Ligue 2 as an 18-year-old to becoming the teenager who has now scored the most goals in a Premier League campaign. The striker bagged 13 goals under Iraola as Bournemouth finished sixth, surpassing a record previously shared by Robbie Fowler and Robbie Keane.Such an output inevitably led to big-money links to clubs like Barcelona and, prior to Iraola's appointment, even Liverpool.“Junior Kroupi will not leave Bournemouth," Bournemouth's president of football operation, Tiago Pinto, said last month."His contract still has more than four years remaining, there is no release clause, and he is not going anywhere.

That is completely out of the question.”Kroupi's fellow Cherries teenager, Rayan, has played himself into the Brazil squad for the World Cup, such has been his form on the south coast.Meanwhile, Dominic Solanke, under Iraola's guidance, became a £60m Tottenham Hotspur signing in 2024 after scoring 19 goals in 38 Premier League games under the new Liverpool boss.“The first thing we try to do when we recover the ball is play to the No9, because that is usually the moment when the opponent is less well-positioned and you can find better spaces," Iraola has previously said.The most obvious example of a player upscaling his ambitions through his performances under Iraola, however, is Antoine Semenyo, who left the club in January before going on to win the League and FA Cup at Manchester City.Semenyo was plucked from relative obscurity in 2023 after a series of loan spells away from Bristol City. Less than three years later he was sold to City for £65m having shone under Iraola's tutelage.So while Iraola will surely be licking his lips at the prospect of reshaping a squad with players like Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and, in time, Hugo Ekitike in, the new head coach will be entrusted to extract much more from the trio than they contributed under Slot last time out.Ekitike's 17-goal term in his maiden campaign at Anfield marked him out as a potential star of the future, but the France international scored only six goals between January and April, when his season ended due to a ruptured Achilles.