Liverpool: Why Chelsea didn’t appoint Iraola as Anfield ‘landscape shifted’ for four reasons | OneFootball

A new report has revealed why Chelsea opted against appointing Andoni Iraola, while four factors led to his arrival at Liverpool.

Earlier this week, Liverpool confirmed the appointment of Iraola following the sacking of former boss Arne Slot. Their new head coach has penned an initial two-year contract at Anfield.

The Reds moved quickly to appoint Iraola, who has attracted a lot of interest since announcing his exit from Bournemouth.

Iraola’s contract at Bournemouth only ran until the end of June, and he made it clear before joining Liverpool that he was keen for a fresh start elsewhere.

Chelsea, Crystal Palace, AC Milan and Bayer Leverkusen were all linked with Iraola before he joined Liverpool, and a detailed report from The Athletic on the ‘inside story’ regarding Liverpool’s manager change has revealed why the Blues didn’t end up appointing him.

According to the report, Iraola ‘impressed’ during ‘talks’ with Chelsea, but they ultimately looked elsewhere because ‘there were concerns about the radical departure his style of football would represent from the work of previous managers Enzo Maresca and Liam Rosenior at Stamford Bridge’.

Why Liverpool sacked Slot and appointed Iraola

The same report has acknowledged that there was a ‘landscape shift’ at Anfield towards the end of the 2025/26 campaign, with Slot initially expected to remain in charge beyond the end of this season.

Slot is said to have been ‘shocked’ upon being informed that he was being let go, while Iraola was the only manager approached by FSG following their decision to bring in a new head coach.

And it is also revealed that there was a change in FSG’s thinking because there was ‘increasing concern about the impact of so many defeats and declining performance levels’ and this’ led to the reluctant acceptance that they would need to at least contemplate a change in the dugout’.

It is later pointed out that Liverpool chiefs feared there could be too much of a toxic atmosphere if they kept Slot, while they decided to implement a new playing style with Iraola.

The report claims: