{"id":2750,"date":"2026-06-04T19:09:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T19:09:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2750"},"modified":"2026-06-04T19:09:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T19:09:26","slug":"liverpool-hires-andoni-iraola-to-mark-return-to-klopp-style-playing-approach-after-slot-departure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2750","title":{"rendered":"Liverpool hires Andoni Iraola to mark return to Klopp-style playing approach after Slot departure"},"content":{"rendered":"

Liverpool hired Andoni Iraola as manager on Thursday, turning to the former Bournemouth coach whose intense and heavy-pressing playing approach resembles the ideology that brought the team so much success under former Anfield favorite Jurgen Klopp<\/a> .<\/p>\n

Read more Packers\u2019 Christian Watson agrees to four-year, $110.5 million extension, AP source says<\/a><\/p>\n

The 43-year-old Spaniard, who has signed a deal for an undisclosed length, left his job at Bournemouth at the end of the recently completed season after a three-year spell that boosted his reputation.<\/p>\n

The unheralded south-coast team finished sixth in the Premier League, going unbeaten in its last 18 games, and qualified for Europe for the first time in its history.<\/p>\n

Iraola replaces Arne Slot, who was fired<\/a> by Liverpool last Saturday following a troubled second year in charge after emulating the likes of Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti and Antonio Conte by winning the Premier League title in his first season. That took Liverpool to a record-tying 20 English league championships.<\/p>\n

Iraola said he was joining \u201ca special club.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t need a lot of things to get attracted by Liverpool. Liverpool is Liverpool,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut obviously the atmosphere, the supporters, the club, the players, the chance for me to coach top-level players, the chance to fight for titles. I think it cannot be more attractive than this. It\u2019s difficult to find it. So, really excited to start.\u201d<\/p>\n

Concerns about Liverpool\u2019s style of play under Slot \u2014 the team lost 12 games in a disappointing title defense \u2014 were laid bare in a critical social-media post<\/a> by departing superstar Mohamed Salah<\/a> that called for the club to \u201cgo back to being the heavy metal attacking team that opponents fear.\u201d Tellingly, it was liked by a number of current Liverpool players.<\/p>\n

In going for Iraola, who likes a hard-running and pressing approach previously favored by the popular Klopp in his trophy-laden spell at Liverpool from 2015-2024, the club\u2019s leadership appears to have taken Salah\u2019s message on board.<\/p>\n

Read more Minnesota Wild forward Marcus Foligno wins the NHL\u2019s King Clancy award for leadership and service<\/a><\/p>\n

The appointment \u2014 overseen by Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes, who was working at Bournemouth when Iraola was hired there in 2023 \u2014 doesn\u2019t come without risk, though.<\/p>\n

Iraola has never managed a club anywhere as big as Liverpool, with his only jobs before Bournemouth coming in brief spells in charge at AEK Larnaca in Cyprus and second-tier Mirandes in Spain before a three-year stint at Rayo Vallecano.<\/p>\n

He also has never won a major trophy, or had to balance the demands of elite domestic and European competitions.<\/p>\n

However, Liverpool wanted a manager who will play a more \u201caggressive and urgent\u201d style of soccer and Iraola fits the bill, even if his off-field persona \u2014 unassuming, reserved \u2014 couldn\u2019t be more different to that of the more outgoing and in-your-face Klopp.<\/p>\n

Iraola takes over a team in transition, with the offseason departures of Salah and Andy Robertson leaving Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker as the only remaining senior members of the brilliant team that Klopp led to the Champions League title in 2019 and the Premier League trophy the following year.<\/p>\n

Liverpool spent an unprecedented $570 million<\/a> to strengthen the squad in the last offseason but only finished in fifth place in an underwhelming Premier League title defense to squeeze into the Champions League, a competition Iraola has never managed in.<\/p>\n

Iraola is the latest coach born in Spain\u2019s Basque region to take over a top English club, following in the footsteps of Mikel Arteta (Arsenal), Unai Emery (Aston Villa) and most recently Xabi Alonso<\/a> (Chelsea).<\/p>\n

Read more Aaron Judge misses 3rd straight game with bone bruise in rib as Yankees await clarity<\/a><\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP soccer: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/soccer<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Liverpool has hired Andoni Iraola as head coach, less than a week after firing Arne Slot<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":97,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nLiverpool hires Andoni Iraola to mark return to Klopp-style playing approach after Slot departure - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2750\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Liverpool hires Andoni Iraola to mark return to Klopp-style playing approach after Slot departure - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Liverpool has hired Andoni Iraola as head coach, less than a week after firing Arne Slot\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2750\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-04T19:09:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2750#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2750\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"Liverpool hires Andoni Iraola to mark return to Klopp-style playing approach after Slot departure\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-04T19:09:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2750\"},\"wordCount\":635,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2750#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/0e4bc55596fd7fd0d0a967e391a73c0a.jpeg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2750#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2750\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2750\",\"name\":\"Liverpool hires Andoni Iraola to mark return to Klopp-style playing approach after Slot departure - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2750#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2750#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/0e4bc55596fd7fd0d0a967e391a73c0a.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-04T19:09:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2750#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2750\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2750#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/0e4bc55596fd7fd0d0a967e391a73c0a.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/0e4bc55596fd7fd0d0a967e391a73c0a.jpeg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2750#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Liverpool hires Andoni Iraola to mark return to Klopp-style playing approach after Slot departure\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Moving Insider USA\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Liverpool hires Andoni Iraola to mark return to Klopp-style playing approach after Slot departure - Moving Insider USA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2750","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Liverpool hires Andoni Iraola to mark return to Klopp-style playing approach after Slot departure - Moving Insider USA","og_description":"Liverpool has hired Andoni Iraola as head coach, less than a week after firing Arne Slot","og_url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2750","og_site_name":"Moving Insider USA","article_published_time":"2026-06-04T19:09:26+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2750#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2750"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#\/schema\/person\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03"},"headline":"Liverpool hires Andoni Iraola to mark return to Klopp-style playing approach after Slot departure","datePublished":"2026-06-04T19:09:26+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2750"},"wordCount":635,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2750#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0e4bc55596fd7fd0d0a967e391a73c0a.jpeg","articleSection":["Interesting"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2750#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2750","url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2750","name":"Liverpool hires Andoni Iraola to mark return to Klopp-style playing approach after Slot departure - Moving Insider USA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2750#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2750#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0e4bc55596fd7fd0d0a967e391a73c0a.jpeg","datePublished":"2026-06-04T19:09:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#\/schema\/person\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2750#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2750"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2750#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0e4bc55596fd7fd0d0a967e391a73c0a.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0e4bc55596fd7fd0d0a967e391a73c0a.jpeg","width":1200,"height":630},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2750#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Liverpool hires Andoni Iraola to mark return to Klopp-style playing approach after Slot departure"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/","name":"Moving Insider USA","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#\/schema\/person\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com"],"url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/97"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}