The charm has worn off: Why it has become logical for Iraola to reject Milan

On the face of it, AC Milan should be able to appoint Andoni Iraola in their sleep. Yet, it would make little sense for him to join. 

When it comes to football clubs, Milan are one of the biggest. From a perspective of hearts – particularly ours – it doesn’t matter that they have struggled in recent years, it doesn’t matter that they haven’t got a structure in place.

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However, it does, and we all know that, even if admitting that hurts.

Legacy only takes you so far in negotiations and that is ultimately why certain things have to be in place to attract people. After all, a name that was at the top 20 years ago can fall a long way in the space of a season, let alone 20.

The Iraola situation

To recap slightly, the Iraola situation has been a hot topic in recent days with Massimiliano Allegri being sacked. After all, he was meant to put the Rossoneri back amongst the big boys, back where they belong, back in the Champions League.

Yet, despite his assurances all season, he failed to get them over the line. It was not due to a lack of chances, he had plenty. However, for whatever reason, he couldn’t get his squad there. A failure. Unfortunately for him, there is no two ways of viewing it.

So, the club’s eyes quickly turned to the Premier League and overachieving Bournemouth coach, Andoni Iraola. Considering he is leaving the Cherries this summer, he stands out as an opportunity – a buzzword for Milan recently – as well as just being a fantastic coach.

Tick. Tick.

However, reports suggest that he was equally tempted by the idea of staying in England with Crystal Palace in a strong position. Suggestions have also emerged that he had the outlines of an agreement there, which can be enough to stop heads turning, look at Ardon Jashari and the ‘Besa’ idea.

In that same breath, though, Allegri had somewhat of an agreement with Napoli to become their head coach last summer and yet he still chose the Diavolo instead. Though he is now heading to Naples – as a sidenote, it’s funny how football works, isn’t it?

So, in short, having somewhat of an agreement is not the be-all and end-all. Nevertheless, Crystal Palace were still believed to be ahead.

For what it’s worth, there was also a tweet from a parody Milan account which got picked up by some members of the media, insinuating that it was to do with budgets. Now, it quickly got debunked, but was it that unbelievable – well, clearly not.

Iraola had a brief period where it seemed he was holding out for the Liverpool job, but reports on Thursday would now lead you to believe that he is heading to the Bundesliga and to Bayer Leverkusen.

Are Milan bigger than Liverpool? Probably. Are Milan bigger than Leverkusen? Yes. Are Milan bigger than Crystal Palace? With respect, definitely.

So, why are we sitting here discussing Iraola being more attracted to the prospects of all three clubs? As much as it may hurt, the reasoning is fairly simple.

A lack of structure

As much as Monday’s news might’ve been good to some, it leaves the Rossoneri – at least in a football sense – in a pretty bad position. Well, not bad, but difficult. They can build the club up again and make key decisions differently; that part is good.

However, a manager – in this case Iraola – has to come into a club with no idea who he’s working alongside and under. It’d be like appointing Pep Guardiola to be your manager with the possibility of Sean Dyche being your sporting director.

Now, that’s not to say Sean Dyche might not be brilliant in that role, but rather, their ideas of football are completely different. That cannot happen.

Indeed, all of the best clubs are built around symbiotic relationships between management and managers. It’s the reason why Manchester City kept winning, it’s the reason why Burnley did as well as they did for so long.

It’s because both had people around them who had the same vision for the club and knew the style of what was there.

So, Iraola walking into a club without that structure is walking completely into the unknown. He wouldn’t know what control he had over transfers – which is a totally separate matter – and what style of player they’d want to recruit.

That’s not that big of a problem, right? Wrong. Look at last season, the Diavolo recruited several players for the future, whilst Allegri wanted ready-made players to compete at the top level. Not only can it create internal issues, but it also builds a dysfunctional side – and we wonder why there’s not been a kick on in recent years.

In short, then, those in the background are as important, if not more than, a manager to appoint first. Simply because it creates a direction. Which, ultimately, Milan have lacked in recent years.

Squad to rebuild

So, we move on to the squad now. The direction of the current team is difficult because you have a blank canvas, but you also have a number of key issues to solve. Is Mike Maignan going to want to leave? Who else will follow him?

On the other hand, who wants to stay and perhaps more frustratingly, who doesn’t want to leave but should?

When you look at the current team, there are very, very few players that you could probably build around. You’ve got a core that are now onto their fifth manager – the likes of Maignan, Fikayo Tomori, and Rafael Leao – and questions are being asked of them.

Then, you’ve got the assortment of others who have been recruited by three different coaches in two years. Of course, some of them have found a place in the team. However, you’ve still got a very limited skeleton to build around moving forward in an already limited squad.

For a new manager, with a new structure above them, that is either going to be daunting or delightful. There will be somebody who will thrive on the idea of a summer rebuild and the pressures that come along with that. Other candidates would rather oversee a natural transition, without the need to complete a reset that has probably been two or three seasons in the making.

Unfortunately, this is not Football Manager or FIFA, where such a task is simple. There is so much you have to balance from a quality and commercial standpoint.

Can you afford to sell stars? Will there be a drop-off in quality? Commercially, will the club allow the sales of Rafael Leao and Christian Pulisic, their biggest draws? With a club like Milan, it is so much more than ‘this player is good, I will keep him,’ or ‘this player has had a bad year, I will sell him.’ There are so many more variables.

Taking this back to Iraola, he is not new to a rebuild – last summer, he rebuilt Bournemouth’s entire defence – but there was a model in place to do that.

It ties us nicely into the point made previously; this is where a club’s strategy in the mercato needs to be defined and aligned before a manager can walk in confidently. Without that structure in place, you have no idea what you’re rebuilding with, and perhaps more importantly, you have no idea what you’re rebuilding towards.

Because right now, Milan don’t have a destination. Are they going to rebuild to a younger squad with high potential to sell, or are they rebuilding to win?

You also don’t really know what budget you’re working with, which just adds to the problems. It’s why the lure of the Premier League may have been greater, especially if the Diavolo’s summer is to be guided by outgoings and the occasional euro here and there.

New experience

Maybe a poor one to end it on, too, especially now it appears that Iraola is heading to Germany, where he has never played or coached. However, he would also be heading to a league which he has no idea about.

Of course, he will have some semblance of an idea of the quality and style of Serie A. However, it is a massive risk to leap to a club like Milan, in a league which you are ultimately unfamiliar with, when your stock is as high as it is.

That is not to say that it won’t or can’t get higher. Of course not. But it is still a risk and at this moment of his career, maybe it is not right for him to take that leap onto a club with the expectations of Milan, considering there have been doubts about his previous work.

After all, from a Rossoneri perspective, he has also not managed in the Champions League, which could be a factor to consider longer-term.

There is also the family factor. In an interview with the BBC in 2025, he spoke about the importance of his family and them moving regularly. So, this also has to be considered, considering they could’ve settled down in England.

Your family have travelled around with you. Is it important to have them with you?

“My family is very important. They are sacrificing a lot. I am going from country to country to the best clubs I have the opportunity to go to, and they have to come with me. I am very clear I couldn’t do this without them.”

Of course, this has been made a little redundant with today’s news. However, it still plays a part in decisions, so it may have been why he had Palace and Liverpool in the top spots.

No reason to panic

Now, this is not an article intended to scare you that the Rossoneri are going to get a terrible Italian manager because they don’t have to relocate and they’re fine working with a squad in need of a rebuild, and and and.

Instead, it is quite the opposite. As much as there are problems at the club – avoiding that would be naive – it is pretty much a blank canvas of a project. To someone, there is a long-term aim with Milan that can be achieved with all the variables getting better.

Budget? With success, it’ll rise. Squad? With success, it’ll get better and be built in their vision. It would be difficult, considering the successes of the era, to compare it to the Stefano Pioli and Paolo Maldini situation.

However, you definitely could.

This is as close to a blank slate as Milan have had in years. So, whilst it may seem pretty doom and gloom right now, it really might not be. To someone, there’s a massive opportunity at San Siro.

Whilst the word ‘project’ is scary, this time, the club are in the right place to offer it. In previous years, there hasn’t been a full commitment to it. Now, there can be, thanks to the major departures across the board.

We are heading into the unknown. Yet, in this position, the unknown may provide a better future than what has become too well known in recent years.