Como’s Cesc Fabregas may well have been Liverpool’s alternative to Andoni Iraola

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Nevertheless, he has been learning his trade for a fair while, admitting in 2024 that he once attended one of Iraola‘s sessions with Rayo Vallecano, and was immediately impressed.“I went to see [Radamel] Falcao one day in Madrid when they were at Rayo Vallecano,” the former Arsenal player told 5LiveSport. READ MORE: How Liverpool’s new investors really could bring Jude Bellingham to Anfield in 2027“I really liked the session, I saw exactly what (Iraola) he’s trying to do.

He communicates really well with the players, he has a really good structure. He built it from a lower intensity to a higher one, and the concept that he was giving to the players.“It was the first time I started hearing good things about Andoni Iraola.

I’m not surprised where he is or what he’s doing, because you can see the style is very, very clear, and with the patience that we already talked about before with Mikel [Arteta], or probably that they are now giving to Vincent Kompany.Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images“If you really believe in it and give the right players to the manager, most of the time it will come off.”With Liverpool clearly wanting to go in a more attacking direction than Arne Slot, there is every chance that Fabregas was at the very least in their thinking as they looked for their next manager. He and Iraola have some similarities.Liverpool always seemed set on taking the former Bournemouth coach, but if Fabregas had been available, it would have been interesting to see whether they would have taken a punt on him.As he brings his Como team to face Iraola and Liverpool on Sunday, fans will likely be shown exactly why he has been touted to move up a level in the near future.