Liverpool bombshell: Pressure intensifies on Andoni Iraola's job | OneFootball

New Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola is already under pressure. Things have intensified after Friday's news.

Andoni Iraola is barely through the door at Liverpool and he's already facing complete chaos. The Spaniard replaced Arne Slot las month and will lead the Reds into the new season.

But there's immediate pressure. That became clear when Richard Hughes was linked with a move away from Liverpool to Al-Hilal.

Hughes is the man who hired Iraola and a departure would mean a new sporting director with potentially very new ideas. Iraola wouldn't be the pick of a replacement, after all, and there would be very, very little solid backing.

No one could even rule out a new sporting director wanting an immediate appointment of his own. Someone he knows, trusts and follows a similar path.

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Now, maybe Iraola meshes wonderfully with a new sporting director. But there's no question that any new hire would find it easier to move on from the head coach, given he hasn't staked any reputation on him.

The saving grace here was supposed to be that Michael Edwards, essentially Hughes's boss, would help create continuity that would otherwise be lacking. He'd hire someone in roughly the same mould as the current SD, helping to keep things on the current path.

Only, Friday's bombshell news saw it announced that Edwards has quit. The Athletic is among those reporting that the one-time sporting director and now former CEO of Football at FSG has left his role.

And so now there's absolute uncertainty at Liverpool. Hughes is set to leave and now Edwards is gone. There will be great change at the club later this year and the direction may entirely alter.

What does that mean for Iraola and the project he signed up for? It will almost certainly change and he may no longer be the man for the job.

Certainly, it will be remarkably easy for the new leadership to change head coach as continuity takes a backseat to a new plan. It promises to be a crazy few months, then.