Liverpool part ways with Arne Slot as Andoni Iraola emerges as leading replacement candidate

Liverpool have dismissed Arne Slot after a difficult second season at Anfield, with Andoni Iraola now seen as the frontrunner to become the club’s next head coach.

Liverpool have officially confirmed that Arne Slot has left his role as head coach with immediate effect. The club said the process to appoint a successor is already under way, while also thanking the Dutch manager for his work and noting that he leaves with a Premier League title to his name.

The decision has become one of the most unexpected managerial moves of the Premier League summer. Slot arrived at Liverpool in June 2024 after Jürgen Klopp’s departure and delivered a league title in his first season, but the following campaign was far less convincing. Liverpool finished fifth, struggled for consistency and ended the season without a trophy, leading the club’s ownership and sporting department to conduct an end-of-season review.

According to The Guardian, the review was led by sporting director Richard Hughes and FSG football chief executive Michael Edwards. The report says the club concluded there was little belief that results and performances would improve under Slot, despite heavy investment in the squad. The decision was therefore presented as a strategic reset rather than a purely emotional reaction to fan pressure.

At the same time, the dismissal has caused surprise inside and around the club because Slot had delivered Liverpool’s 20th English league title only one year earlier. Reports say some players were taken aback by the timing of the decision, while Virgil van Dijk publicly thanked Slot for the title-winning season and wished him well.

The leading candidate to replace Slot is Andoni Iraola. The former Bournemouth manager has recently left the south-coast club and is available without compensation, which makes him an attractive option for Liverpool as they look to move quickly. The Guardian reports that Liverpool are set to hold formal talks with Iraola this week, while other candidates mentioned include Sebastian Hoeness and Pierre Sage.

Iraola’s profile appears to fit what Liverpool may now want after a disappointing season: high pressing, intensity, fast transitions and a style closer to the energy supporters associate with the Klopp era. He impressed at Bournemouth by building a competitive Premier League side and guiding the club into Europe for the first time, strengthening his case as a coach ready for a larger job.

For Liverpool, this is more than a coaching change. The club is already facing a major summer rebuild after the departures of Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson, while the squad still needs to respond to a season that exposed problems in attack, defensive structure and identity. Slot’s exit therefore opens a new chapter at Anfield, but it also increases pressure on the board to make the next appointment quickly and correctly.

If Iraola is confirmed, Liverpool will be choosing a coach associated with aggressive, modern football and clear tactical principles. But until the club makes an official announcement, his name should be treated as the leading candidate rather than the completed appointment.