Andoni Iraola’s 16-month spell at New York City FC was the last of his playing career, but it proved to be an important spell for what has followed.
Today, he returns to Yankee Stadium, where his former club still play home matches, as Liverpool’s new head coach, and were it not for that spell in MLS, he may never have been in a position to become Arne Slot’s successor this summer.
💬 “It was like having a coach on the field,” says team-mate Jason Hernandez. “He was able to read the game, elevate those around him and relay messages from the coaching staff, and he understood what the game needed at different moments.”
Iraola immersed himself in American football, which he had followed since he was a teenager, and basketball. He took inspiration from the methodology and game-planning of those sports, and has applied it to his football coaching.
That career has now led him back to the place where his ambition first formed to one of the biggest jobs in world football.
