Liverpool supporters have been told that Andoni Iraola could be announced as their new manager by the end of the current week.
The Reds are trying to move quickly after sacking Arne Slot, in a move which caught much of the fanbase by surprise.
But according to journalist David Lynch, Liverpool have likely been speaking to Iraola for a little while, and as a result are now nearly at the end of what is expected to have been a ‘smooth process’ of succession.
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Iraola could be unveiled in the coming days
Though Liverpool may not have known that they were going to pull the trigger and sack Slot this weekend, they have been aware for more than one month that Iraola would likely be available.
Speaking to Anfield Index on Monday, Lynch says that this is likely to have meant conversations taking place between Liverpool and the Basque, with no ‘surprises’ set to leap out and delay the process of his hiring.
“I don’t think they’re going to go to Iraola now and be caught out by what he wants or anything like that,” said the journalist. “That sort of background work goes on constantly.”
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“They’ll have a good idea of what he wants and how it’s going to work and obviously Richard Hughes knows him personally anyway, so I’m pretty sure those conversations have been running on for a while.
“In fact, the biggest indication of that is how Iraola acted around the Crystal Palace and Bayer Leverkusen interest. He held them off for a long time, so he clearly knew this was a possibility and that was something that had been discussed behind the scenes.
“I’d be surprised if there’s any kind of surprises that come up for them while they’re talking this week and you would imagine a smooth process to get it done.”
Asked to predict a timeline for when Iraola could be announced as the new Liverpool manager, Lynch expanded on the previously reported prediction of ‘before the World Cup’, which kicks off on June 11th, claiming that it realistically could be even sooner.
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“The indication I’ve got is that they want to get it done before the World Cup,” he said.
“To give an idea of where I think it’s up to, I personally would be surprised if we’re not at a press conference this week. There’s no real reason for it to drag on any longer than that.
“They’ve got work to do in terms of putting together backroom staff, but the quicker you get Iraola appointed the quicker you can move on all those sorts of things as well.
“So, I’ve just got a feeling that by the end of this week we’ll be in a press conference.”
That would cap off a whirlwind week for Reds fans in which everything they’d expected about the summer at their club has been turned on its head.
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