Andoni Iraola is expected to sign a two-year contract as Liverpool’s new head coach, a detail which may come as a surprise to some.
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The Athletic‘s David Ornstein reported on Tuesday night that the 43-year-old has reached a ‘verbal agreement’ to succeed Arne Slot in the Anfield dugout and is set to join on an initial 24-month deal, matching the two contracts that he signed at Bournemouth.
It’s a shorter term than what the Dutchman agreed in 2024 and Jurgen Klopp did back in 2015, with both agreeing initial three-year deals at LFC.
Why is Iraola set to sign for just two years?
Taking to X last night, Ben Jacobs explained why Iraola is initially committing to ‘only’ a two-year contract at Liverpool.
The journalist posted: ‘The short-term contract is at Andoni Iraola’s insistence. It is how the Spaniard operates with all clubs.’
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Iraola hasn’t tended to stay at one club for long
History shows that the 43-year-old doesn’t tend to stay especially long in any one destination, having already managed four clubs in his eight years as a head coach.
His initial contracts at Mirandes and Rayo Vallecano were for only one season each, although he ultimately served three years with the latter before coming to Bournemouth in 2023, where he penned an extension to his initial two-year deal at the end of his first campaign.
| Club | Time in charge | Games managed |
| AEK Larnaca | July 2018-January 2019 | 29 |
| Mirandes | July 2019-July 2020 | 49 |
| Rayo Vallecano | August 2020-June 2023 | 136 |
| Bournemouth | July 2023-May 2026 | 127 |
Some Liverpool fans might be apprehensive about Iraola signing for only a couple of years, but obviously there’d be scope for that agreement to be extended if he proves to be a success at Anfield and wishes to remain here for the longer-term.
Even if he sees out his expected contract with the Reds and departs then, he’d still exceed the average managerial tenure in the Premier League, which (as of April) stands at just 16 months.
The Spaniard has only been sacked from one of his previous four head coach posts, and that was his first with AEK Larnaca in early 2019. Hopefully whenever he leaves Liverpool, it’d be on his own terms rather than being jettisoned by the club’s hierarchy, as that’d indicate that his tenure will likely have been a success.
Even Brendan Rodgers got a three year contract, Alonso has been a four year contract with Chelsea.
It’s a strange one for me just a two years contract, I suppose if it goes pear shaped it will save FSG a few quid. If I was a Liverpool player it wouldn’t give me much confidence, short term solution. Has any new Liverpool manager been given such a short contract.
I don’t think so.
Not sure if iraola has the right mindset on inviting on 2 year deal as our head coach. Slot took over a strong squad who is well drilled with gegenpressing and they are mentaility monsters. Now slot has dismantled the whole squad and iraola will take over a squad of good players but there is almost no camaraderie. I will expect him to take more time to push his idea to the squad. I believe year 1 will be tense and I can accept a good run in epl and ucl but we must qualify for ucl. His team should only take shape in year 2. After that, his contract is up and either party and call it quits. If he has done badly like slot, it will benefit fsg as they would not need to compensate iraola. However if he does very well, who knows some big teams might poach him away from us and we cannot do anything about it. He is Spanish and when teams like real Madrid or Barcelona calls, you know where his head will be turning.