REAL REASON Liverpool picked Iraola over Alonso revealed – Chelsea now stuck

Liverpool are thundering towards an agreement to appoint Andoni Iraola as their new manager, and the real reason why the Reds never made any attempt to hire Xabi Alonso – now of Chelsea – has been revealed.

Liverpool only decided to sack Arne Slot on Saturday morning, with the club’s end-of-season review churning out one result – the Dutchman must go.

Alonso, meanwhile, had been heavily linked with taking over at Liverpool throughout 2026 if Slot were to lose his employment status on Merseyside.

But of course, there was no vacancy at Anfield at the time Chelsea hired Alonso in mid-May. That has sparked speculation Liverpool have ‘missed out’ on the Spaniard, and if they’d have acted faster and fired Slot before the season ended, they could have wound up with Alonso.

However, the latest from Athletic reporter, Oliver Kay, has debunked that myth.

When posting on X, Bundesliga expert, Kevin Hatchard, theorised the reason Liverpool never considered Alonso and were content to let him go to Chelsea related to his playing style.

“I think this idea that #lfc missed out on Xabi Alonso because they sacked Slot too late is wide of the mark,” claimed Hatchard.

“He’s a great coach and a Liverpool legend, but if you want aggressive, fast-paced, up-and-at-em football, he’s not your guy. Iraola much closer to Klopp’s “vollgas” style.”

Reporter Ben Jacobs has confirmed Liverpool are determined to get back to the front-foot and aggressive style of play that characterised the club during Jurgen Klopp’s iconic reign.

While Alonso’s brand of football does get results – and delivered the first league title in Bayer Leverkusen’s history – it can hardly be called exciting.

Instead, Liverpool are moving for Iraola who is perhaps the closest thing to Klopp we’ve seen in the Premier League since the German left, at least from a playing style perspective.

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Liverpool turned off by Xabi Alonso playing style

And when replying to Hatchard’s post, Athletic journo Kay confirmed that as far back as March (two months before Alonso joined Chelsea), it was already confirmed that Liverpool would NOT move for Alonso if Slot were dismissed.

The reason why was as predicted – the Reds aren’t fans of the slower and more controlled style of play Alonso would implement at Anfield.

Instead, they want a higher tempo, a high press and front-foot aggressive football, which Iraola brings.

Kay explained: “It was spelt out to me in March that if they were looking for a new coach (which wasn’t their intention at that point), it wouldn’t be Alonso — pretty much for the reasons you (Hatchard) mention.

“If they’d wanted to, [Liverpool] could very easily have spoken to him before he took the Chelsea job. (He has the same agent as Iraola after all.) They didn’t.”

When Liverpool will appoint Andoni Iraola

Our insider, Graeme Bailey, has been reliably informed Iraola has said yes to joining Liverpool. The Spaniard has snubbed interest from Crystal Palace, Bayer Leverkusen and AC Milan to take the Anfield job.

Talks are now progressing and Liverpool hope to officially appoint the 43-year-old as quickly as possible.

In reality, that means they hope to have Iraola in place before the World Cup begins, and if all goes smoothly, potentially as early as later this week.

Once in charge, a critical transfer call will immediately be thrust upon the new Reds boss…

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