Liverpool market: post-Slot chosen for bench, Milan mocked
The reversal on Liverpool’s bench has shaken European soccer. Despite finishing fifth in the Premier League, the Reds have secured Champions League football thanks to the additional UEFA ranking slot. This achievement has given the club the economic strength to accelerate contacts with Andoni Iraola, the former Bournemouth coach and among England’s most highly regarded tactical minds, chosen to take up Arne Slot’s legacy.
The Basque coach’s imminent landing on Merseyside brings with it a backstory involving AC Milan. In the weeks before the Reds’ lunge, the Rossoneri management had identified Iraola as the ideal profile for the new cycle at Milanello. The contacts had been so intense and thorough that an imminent white smoke had been speculated, with the coach strongly attracted by the blazon of the Italian club.
The cards were turned upside down by Liverpool’s sudden insertion, which leveraged Iraola’s desire to remain in the Premier League and the timeless appeal of Anfield. The prospect of leading the Reds in the Champions League prompted the coach to freeze talks with Milan to give top priority to the English proposal, speeding up the closure of the deal at the expense of Milan’s hopes.
While Liverpool is preparing to formalize the signing to plan the summer market, Milan finds itself forced to cash in and start from scratch. The Rossoneri management will now have to quickly turn to alternative profiles in order not to be found unprepared at the opening of negotiations, looking for a guide capable of guaranteeing the same tactical modernism that Iraola could bring.
The names circulating in these hours are many and very different from each other: there is talk of Ralf Rangnick, current technical commissioner of Austria, who would land only on his terms and with a total revolution of the Rossoneri club’s organizational chart. There is Antonio Conte, looking for redemption after the excellent two-year Italian season, but also Italian, who could bring innovation in the tactical dictates of a team that will be orphaned of Leao and, most likely, Modric. In recent weeks Xavi Hernandez, who has been stationary for two seasons after his experience at Barcelona, Oliver Glasner, Mauricio Pochettino, Arne Slot and Thiago Motta had also been approached by the Diavolo.
