According to The Athletic, Leeds United have set their sights on Andoni Iraola as a potential new manager after sacking Jesse Marsch on Monday.
The Whites are supposedly big admirers of Iraola.
The potential candidate is currently the manager of Rayo Vallecano, who sit 8th in La Liga and are outperforming all expectations this season.
This success has caught the attention of Leeds, who see Iraola as a promising candidate to help guide their team out of the relegation zone.
Iraola has a wealth of experience within the game as both a player and a coach, and interestingly, he played under Marcelo Bielsa at Athletic Bilbao 102 times during his playing career.
It is reported that Iraola has taken some of Bielsa’s coaching methods on board, which could be a huge plus for Leeds as a number of the current crop of players played their best football under the Argentine.
If Iraola does end up joining Leeds, he will become the second Spanish international to manage the club, following Thomas Christiansen.
Iraola’s recent success with Rayo Vallecano suggests that he could be the right man to help turn things around for Leeds. However, he does lack experience at the top-table of management, and this would be something of a left-field appointment.
Whether or not Iraola is the answer to Leeds’ prayers right now remains to be seen, but it looks as though the Yorkshire club are weighing up taking a risk on the Spaniard.
Leeds aren’t necessarily in a position to take a big risk at the moment, so perhaps this rumour won’t get off of the ground, but with the higher-ups at Leeds supposedly being big fans of the 40-year-old, don’t be shocked if he does end up in the Elland Road hotseat.
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