Andoni Iraola told first Liverpool target as 3 players tipped to reach new levels

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EXCLUSIVE: Former Arsenal striker Alan Smith on new Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola, the challenges that await him at Anfield, and competing for the Premier League title againNew Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola.(Image: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)Another summer brings another big period for Liverpool. And with Arne Slot fired last weekend, the former Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola will be the man at the helm tasked with driving things forward.Iraola took Bournemouth to a sixth-place finish last season, despite his roster being gutted by the likes of Liverpool, Real Madrid and PSG in the transfer market, and he arrives as a very highly rated head coach with plenty to offer.The 43-year-old's high-intensity style and aggressive, attacking intentions are understood to have been a major appeal for Liverpool.

There is a core of good players for him to work with, too, even if the volume of them needs to increase before the next campaign kicks off.In Iraola, though, Liverpool appears to have got a good manager who can inspire some more excitement in the new campaign than was evident in the last."I think on paper, most certainly, he's a really talented coach," former Arsenal striker Alan Smith tells Liverpool.com."You saw the way he rebuilt that defense; he lost three of the four regulars in that back four. If he can reproduce the style that he did at Bournemouth, Liverpool fans are going to love him."New Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola.(Image: Nikki Dyer - Liverpool FC via Getty Images)Across the board, Liverpool will be looking to improve next term.

Few of its players, though, look unsuitable for how Iraola wants to play, with the energetic Dominik Szoboszlai perhaps the most obviously strong fit."Milos Kerkez might be pleased to get his old manager in there; it was a little difficult this season for him," Smith says."Florian Wirtz, in his second year, you'd expect to see a lot more of what he showed in Germany. He loves young players, so I'm sure Iraola will be looking forward to developing him as well.