Watch VideoHas Liverpool’s famous masterplan deflated in the post-Alonso scramble?

With Arne Slot gone and Xabi Alonso out of reach, Liverpool are heavily linked with Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola—but is the Basque tactician ready for the unique pressures of Anfield? Photo: AFP For a club that has long prided itself on having a plan,Liverpool suddenly seem to be making things up as they go along. Not so long ago, thesuccession roadmap appeared crystal clear.

Xabi Alonso was the golden boy. The former midfield maestro was cutting his teeth in management, winning admirers across Europe and seemingly travelling a road that led directly back to Anfield. The only problem was that Liverpool blinked.Then they blinked again.

Now, after deciding Arne Slot’s reign had run its course, the Reds are strongly linked with a move for Andoni Iraola, a manager who has undoubtedly done excellent work at Bournemouth but whose appointment feels less like the culmination of a carefully executed masterplan and more like buying that luminous pink footlong Russian around the corner from your favourite nightclub at 4am because all the good options have already gone. That is perhaps unfair on Iraola. In fact, it almost certainly is.

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Getting the Cherries into Europe for the first time is no mean feat. The Spaniard has transformed Bournemouth into one of the English Premier League’s most entertaining sides.Slot, by comparison, had become more Kenny G than Jürgen Klopp’s heavy-metal football. The Spaniard has transformed Bournemouth into one of the English Premier League’s most entertaining sides. Slot, by comparison, had become more Kenny G than Jürgen Klopp’s heavy-metal football.

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