Crystal Palace reach ‘agreement’ with new manager after winning Conference League title | OneFootball

Crystal Palace have reached an ‘agreement’ with Andoni Iraola to become their new manager after winning the Conference League, according to reports.

Jean-Philippe Mateta was the hero for Palace as his second-half tap-in was enough to secure a 1-0 victory over Rayo Vallecano.

It was the Eagles’ second major trophy in a year after they beat Manchester City in the FA Cup final at the end of last season and owner Steve Parish insisted after claiming the second gong on Wednesday – which also grants them a spot in next season’s Europa League – that he wants the club to keep moving forward.

“We have got a taste for it now, we want to keep it going,” he said.

“We have gone up a level and we have got to try and stay there. We will have a week to celebrate and then work hard in the summer.”

Parish’s first port of call will be confirming a new manager as Oliver Glasner has now left his post at Selhurst Park.

Iraola, who stepped down as Bournemouth boss at the end of the season after leading them into the Europa League, has always been Palace’s first-choice replacement for Glasner.

BBC Sport claim that Palace are ‘awaiting Iraola’s annswer’ after making him a proposal that included ‘assurances that he will be permitted significant influence over the recruitment operation’.

Palace believe they have done everything they can to ‘convince Iraola that they can provide the platform for him to continue building his reputation’ and ‘all that’s left is Iraola’s approval’.

They ‘want an answer by the end of the weekend’ as Frank Lampard, Kieran McKenna, Pierre Sage, Sean Dyche and Thomas Frank are on Palace’s list of Plan B options, but Calciomercato journalist Daniele Longo suggests Iraola and Palace have already come to an ‘agreement’.

A matter of ‘project and personal matters’

AC Milan are also said to be interested in Iraola’s services after they sacked head coach Massimiliano Allegri for failing to qualify for the Champions League, in a season the club’s hierarchy described as an “unequivocal failure”.

Longo wrote on X: Milan, Iraola has not yet responded and the feeling, in the Rossoneri household, is that he will honor the agreement made earlier with Crystal Palace. It is not a matter of money and contract but of project and personal matters because he would prefer to stay in the Premier League and in London.

That claim is backed by Gazetta dello Sport, who reported late on Wednesday that Iraola will ‘probably be announced tomorrow’ [Thursday] as the new Crystal Palace manager.

The report adds: