Favorites named as Crystal Palace and Tottenham are plotting a move for Andoni Iraola
Crystal Palace have emerged as front-runners to sign the Premier League’s trophy-winning manager this summer, despite Tottenham’s strong suit.
Crystal Palace are making plans to replace Oliver Glasner
The countdown to the end of the season at Selhurst Park will feel very different than before.
Oliver Glasner’s departure at the end of the campaign has been confirmed, giving the Palace board the rare luxury of preparing a management change in broad daylight rather than rushing to react to a crisis.
Steve Parish has time on his side, and he intends to use it.
Thomas Frank has attracted a lot of attention as his appointment, with the former Brentford and Tottenham manager well-known among Premier League managers and has a strong reputation after his work at the G-tech Community Stadium.
Meanwhile, Robbie Keane is also believed to be among the names being considered by Palace.
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We also revealed in February that Palace were eyeing former England star and manager Gareth Southgate, who has been out of a job at the Three Lions since leaving the national team in 2024.
However, they are not the only competitors.
Palace are also monitoring Bournemouth’s Andoni Iraola, with an update due this afternoon.
Crystal Palace ‘big threat’ to Bournemouth over Andoni Iraola
According to innews, courtesy of reporter Mark Douglas, Crystal Palace represent ‘the biggest threat’ to Bournemouth’s hopes of keeping Iraola beyond the summer.
The Basque manager’s contract at the Vitality Stadium expires at the end of this season, and while Bournemouth are working hard to extend his stay, no deal has yet been agreed.
Iraola has long been one of the most sought-after coaches in English football.
Last spring, he was widely reported to be the frontrunner to replace Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham, with sources at the time describing him as a figure prominent in former chairman Daniel Levy’s thinking.
Spurs have retained their interest, even after the 43-year-old’s departure, and remain interested now ahead of what looks set to be another turbulent summer at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Iraola began his coaching career at AEK Larnaca in Cyprus, where he won the Super Cup in 2019, before engineering Rayo Vallecano’s promotion to the second division to establish stability in La Liga.
His time at Bournemouth surpassed all that.
The Spaniard guided the Cherries to a record 56 points last season and has kept them in contention this season despite the January sale of Antoine Semenyo, with the club currently ninth in the table and unbeaten in nine games.
Iraola himself has offered little publicly, although his words on the matter last week were carefully chosen.
“I am very happy here, not now but since I started living here,” he said.
“I always say that I come to work with a smile and that is very important to me. I have a good relationship not only with the players but with the team, with the staff. Everyone is very helpful. I am very happy. The rest is a matter of talking to the team. Sooner or later we will have to make a decision, yes.”
Those words point to a man who is open to dialogue instead of committing himself by walking away.
Bournemouth have invested heavily in getting this offense going, with millions spent on club development over the past three seasons, and an ongoing stadium expansion project at Vitality.
For Palace to succeed, they will need to provide something equally compelling.
Iraola is understood to place a high value on stability and a genuine understanding to build in his own image – things that have not always been straightforward at Selhurst Park, where key assets such as Marc Guehi have been sold when bigger clubs come calling.
In any case, the summer race for one of the most wanted managers in the Premier League has begun.
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